Like, Oh My God!
by annoying talking animal
Summary: AU, High school fic. The four of them couldn't be any more different, they couldn't be part of more diverse crowds, but when forced to work together they realize that they couldn't have judged each other any less accurately. KaiMax, TyHil
1. Newsflash: Max Isn't Perfect

**A/N: Hello! Here's a new story... Not sure what to say about except that it's going to get better, everyone's POV's will be used and that ships will be announced later, since we have to wait and see how this plays out at first. Also, sorry for the stereotyping. :P**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Beyblade. **

**Warnings: Religion talk, some coarse language, stereotyping and maybe even some yaoi in future chapters.  
**

Sitting at a desk in a room practically bursting with students with too much energy, I looked around thoughtfully. These people only have one thing collectively in common: they all, myself included, think that Religion class is a waste of time.

You'll never hear me say that there's anything wrong with Religion (my mother would probably throw me out) but it's definitely not good enough course material for four compulsory credits. As I played idly with my uniform tie I paid little mind to the ramblings of Michael, who was sitting beside me. He was flipping through our tattered eleventh grade World Religions textbook, commenting on the people in the pictures and future course material.

Can I tell you a huge, massively huge secret? I, Max Tate, in all honesty, don't give a shit. Don't tell anyone I said that!

With my perfect grades, perfect uniform, perfect attitude and perfect family, no one would ever expect me to utter those words. I. Don't. Care. About. This. Not just World Religions, that would be very ignorant of me, but school in general. It kills me. It just totally kills me to come here every day and do my goddamn homework before the end of the period so that I can smile at my teachers and make them proud of me, the model student, the one who everyone should aspire to be.

It's a total shocker, but I'm not perfect. I'm just really good at pretending.

Michael was tapping me on the shoulder to show me the practice test for the unit we're just starting. Usually it takes me a whole semester and a half to get sick of school but it's only the second week and I'm ready to just collapse and start screaming. Instead of screaming I put on a fascinated expression and read through the practice test until my teacher walked in the room.

He was at the front of the room talking. I watched Michael watch him. He looked so alert and attentive. I fought to keep my eyes open, staring past my teacher to instead look at the blackboard. He was talking about a project.

As soon as he mentioned groups of four, Michael had absentmindedly grabbed my arm as he started looking around the room, catching Emily's eye.

"Sir, do we get to pick the groups?"

My eyes drifted to Tyson Granger, who hadn't raised his hand, was wearing an out of uniform sweater and had his tie slung across his desk rather than around his neck.

"No, I have pre-assigned groups here," he said, gesturing to his desk. He continued on to explain the project, but Michael was looking at me with horrified eyes.

"He's going to split us up and put us with people who don't do anything," he whispered.

I shrugged. "We'll see."

Anyway, the project is to create our own religion. It sounds pretty easy to turn into some huge show that's way more time consuming than anyone else's project in order to get 100 as opposed to everyone else's 85-ish marks. I sighed and looked down. For once, I would like to just… not care.

After explaining the project we did a lesson about the different aspects of a religion. Michael was twitching the whole time, waiting to find out who would be in his group. I was watching the clock, waiting for the period to end so I could go down to lunch and get some sugar in me. It's hard to be peppy otherwise. By the end of the period I was pretty much asleep on my arm.

"Hey, Max, are you okay?" he finally asked. I nodded and raised my head.

"I didn't sleep well last night," I replied.

"Aw, that's too bad." He says it as if I was up most of the night crying or something. (So maybe I was, but he doesn't know that. I wonder what his reaction would have been if I had said that.)

"It's okay, I can get some sleep after school before work."

"That's good," he smiled brightly. I can see right through that smile: he doesn't care.

My teacher got out his list of groups. "Okay, before you go, I'll just let you know who you're working with. Group work starts first thing tomorrow."

I listened for my name, but for dramatic effect he saved it for last. Michael was in a group with Emily and he was ecstatic, offering me a simple word or two of sympathy before excitedly signing ideas back and forth with her across the room. Finally, he said my name.

"Max…" I looked up and waited.

"You'll be with Tyson…"

Tyson nodded without looking at me. I sighed, he never does any work.

"… Ray…"

I glanced at Ray, who was sitting quietly by himself behind Emily. He gave me a nervous smile and I returned it brightly, as is my nature.

"… and Kai."

Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh…

I didn't look at him. I just looked down at my desk, listening to my heart pounding. Just my luck. Just my goddamn luck. He's this totally anti-social guy, never follows any rules, barely ever comes to class and is never in uniform. I've never heard a word out of him but he spends a lot of time with other guys of his sort – that is, bad guys, I guess. Tala, Bryan, Ian, Spencer… those types who spend most periods standing around the outside of the school doing drugs. This is just a guess; I've never gone near them.

Michael was being his usual irritating self. "Well at least you've got Ray, he's pretty smart. Not sure if he can speak English, but at least he does some work, right?"

"Yeah," I replied, barely hearing myself.

"Hey, don't worry. Worst that can happen is that you'll do the whole thing by yourself."

Yeah, that's the worst that can happen, Michael. Oh, how I wish I had real friends. Friends who I could be honest with. Then maybe this wouldn't feel so bad.

When I walked in the house after school, I was greeted with the usual scene: my parents standing on opposite ends of the kitchen. Mom was holding a frying pan, her hair was sticking out at all angles and she looked ready to throw it. Dad was holding a crumpled handful of bills, still in his suit and tie from work. Both were red in the face from yelling at each other, but when I walked in they looked at me.

"How was school?" mom asked, trying to laugh it off.

"Good," I replied, kicking off my shoes and walking through the house. "Got a 95 on my math test."

"That's nice, sweetie," she said in a distant voice. As soon as I had left the room I heard them start again and sighed, hurrying up the stairs.

I put on headphones and some loud music. Once I had blocked them out I sighed, falling back onto my bed and squeezing my eyes shut.

I have the life everyone wants, and the more I reminded myself of that the more I hated it. I have a group of friends, I have good marks, I have a big house and all the latest expensive stuff that people want.

But none of my friends really know who I am. My parents are on the verge of splitting up, but maybe that's for the best – the thing with them is that neither of them care about me, just about the marks I bring home. Then we get into the more pathetic stuff – the fact that I've never been kissed. And the reason why.

And the one person who I've fallen for in my entire lifetime.

And how they don't know I exist.

And how I wish it could stay that way.

And that's not to mention what my parents would do to me if they found out who it was.


	2. Ray Really CAN Speak English

**A/N: Instalment 2. Thanks so much for the reviews : ) Also, sorry for the slight anti-Mariah bias, lol. I haven't decided what to do with her yet, we will talk later. I hope you like this one! This time with Rei Rei. Things will get more interesting soon, no worries.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything.**

**Warnings: In the first chapter.**

When we moved here, I _so_ wanted to fit in.

I can speak English perfectly fine, thank you very much. Honest, I can! And I have been able to for most of my life. So when I started going to this high school in the ninth grade I wanted to meet new people and make some friends.

No such luck.

You see, it's because of my limited friends. In the ninth grade I had at least one in every class. We sat together, spoke Chinese out of habit and did all of our work together. I didn't want to upset them by sitting with anyone else that year. This was my mistake. Ever since that year I've had a few classes where I happened not to have one of my friends, but no one would talk to me.

So I caused my own segregation so to speak, but I'm still kind of bitter about it.

Group projects terrify me. Thankfully I have Max in my group – I only know him because he's talkative in class. Everyone knows him. He doesn't know me of course, but I can tell that he's very friendly and hardworking.

As for Tyson and Kai, well… That's a little bit frightening, but I'll just have to deal.

Sometimes I hate my hair and the moment when Max walked over to me at my desk was one of those moments, since strands were falling out of the loose braid it was in. I tried desperately to put them all away.

Stop, Ray. Deep breath. Okay. No one cares about your hair. Pay attention to Max now. Try not to be so socially awkward.

"Hi," Max greeted with a tired smile. His eyes looked puffy and I felt a bit of sympathy for him, he must work really hard for his picture-perfect marks.

"Hi."

"Mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all."

Max took the empty seat next to mine. "Okay, so this project…"

Yes, Max is keen about school; that much is obvious. I flipped through my binder to the outline sheet and we looked at it for a moment.

"An idea would be good."

"Yes, that would be a good start," Max agreed, laughing lightly. "I'm kind of short on those, though. Hey, do you think Tyson and Kai are going to show up?"

I was about to answer no, but Tyson is hard to miss when he walks through the door. "Hey, sir!" he was shouting.

Max's face was hard to read behind the smile, but I noticed it cloud over a little. I felt the same, he's so arrogant. As Tyson kicked about six bags and chairs out of the way Max and I exchanged a quick apprehensive glance.

"Okay, so I don't want to do this."

"Me neither," I assumed was the correct response. And trust me, I was being totally honest.

Max shrugged. "Not like we have a choice."

"Yes it is," Tyson said, laughing. "Have you never just… _not_ done a project?"

Max looked appalled, but kept his voice level. "No, can't say I have."

"You should try it some time," Tyson suggested. "Never had a girlfriend before, I bet. You should get out more and do less homework."

Max blushed, turning back to the binder. "Well we're doing this one, it's the only assessment for this unit."

"So?"

"So it's going to affect my mark," Max said, as if this were the most important thing in the world.

"Three percent," I put in.

"What?" Tyson asked. People usually give me this look if I say anything in English.

I raised my eyebrows. "It's worth three percent of your mark."

"So?"

I wasn't going anywhere with that observation, so I kept my mouth shut. Max helped me out.

"So nothing, it's just worth three percent. And I need to get a high ninety in this course to make up for my math mark."

"What's that going to be, an eighty-five?" Tyson asked jokingly. "Chill out."

I had never heard Max get angry about anything before, but even he seemed a little vexed since he took a deep breath and started over. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just come up with something to base the religion on."

"Your math mark," Tyson suggested jokingly.

Max looked to me, and I sighed. "Sorry, I've got nothing."

"Think Kai will show up?" Max asked.

Tyson laughed. "What, is _he_ going to come up with an idea?"

"No, I'm just wondering if he's coming or not, since he's probably the least agreeable out of the four of us."

"True," Tyson agreed. "If we decide today he'll just get all pissed at us tomorrow. So we don't have to do anything."

I don't think that was what Max was getting at, but he gave up. "Okay, fine."

Tyson wandered off to talk to one of his friends. Max, who had brought his bag over, pulled out some math homework.

"Do you have math this semester?" he asked conversationally.

"Yeah, first period," I replied.

"Oh, I have it last." He looked down. "I couldn't concentrate on my homework last night."

I felt pretty bad for him. I care about my marks too, after all. Still, as usual I stayed silent, watching him start on one of the last few problems.

It wasn't until he had checked and rechecked the answers three times that I finally cut in.

"Max, um…" He looked up at me and I could see lines of frustration in his face. "The b value should be negative." I felt my voice get smaller until my sentence trailed off to nothing. He looked down at his work and gasped.

"Oh, _thank_ you. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong."

"No problem," I said quietly, starting to flip through my book just to have something to do. The clock was moving so slowly, I thought I might die.

On the plus side, I managed to find a piece about a type of meditation where you get hit in the back with a stick. When Max put his math books away I looked up at him.

He seemed intent on being polite. "So, any plans for the weekend?"

It was Tuesday, but at least he broke the silence. "None yet. I'll probably go out with Mariah though. You?"

"Probably nothing," Max shrugged. "Maybe go shopping or something. How long have you and Mariah been dating?"

Of course, the relationship question. It always makes me uncomfortable. "three years."

"Long time," Max commented. "My friends usually don't last longer than a few months, they always end up putting school or work first." He laughed and shook his head. "One of the reasons why I stay out of this stuff."

"Can't say I blame you," I admitted. "So you've never had a girlfriend?" It didn't really make sense to me, because I didn't see anything wrong with him.

"No. Well…" He lowered his voice, glancing over at his friends Michael and Emily, "everyone's been trying to set me up with Emily for a long time."

"Not interested?" I replied quietly, looking over at her. She's kind of pretty, in an untraditional sense.

"Not at all," Max admitted. "But I can't tell any of my friends that. They'd hate me."

I could totally feel for him, but couldn't say so. "That's too bad."

"Well that's everything with them, I can't tell them anything…" He trailed off I suddenly wondered why he was telling me this. Obviously so was he, since he suddenly looked confused. "Sorry, I've just been stressed lately. They're alright, you know."

"Yeah," I grinned. "I know. School is stressful."

"Right. School." He shrugged at me and looked at the clock. "Oh thank _God_ this period is over. Not that I didn't enjoy your company or anything, I just hate this classroom…"

"I know," I laughed as the bell rang, putting my books away. "See you tomorrow."

This is quickly becoming my least favourite period of the day. I found myself missing the usual religion periods I spent sitting by myself, listening to my iPod and doing my work. I headed out of class and was immediately attached to Mariah, who as usual had tons of pink: Bags, clips, headband, buttons, wherever she could fit pink onto our blue, grey and white uniform she did.

"REI REI!"

Oh God. So embarrassing. My face turned about the same colour as her hair as she put all of her weight onto my arm, dragging me towards the cafeteria.


	3. Even Tyson Can Think

**A/N: Third instalment. Apologies for messing with canon friendships, but aside from Hilary, Kenny and the other Bladebreakers Ty only really has Daichi, so… I had to improvise. Especially since I will never introduce an OC to this story :P**

**Thank you SOO MUCH for the reviews guys 3 You make me smile. **

**The make your own religion idea, I must admit, isn't really mine – it's a project that's been going on in World Religions every year at my school for years now. Mine was dedicated to John Travolta and pie. Needless to say we lost marks for not taking it seriously enough.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own Beyblade or Star Trek, believe it or not.**

**Warnings: See first chapter.**

I see her outside my second period English class every single day.

She's waiting for her friend Kenny, who wears glasses and brings a laptop with him everywhere. I know her type – she's like Max, keen about marks and keener about being considered perfect by every teacher in the school. But they don't care about what other kids think about them so much.

I almost wish I could be like that – care about marks, I mean. Everyone assumes I don't and I just find it so hard to work that I _can't_ care. If I did, I would be a nervous wreck from all the sixties. But they seem happy. Maybe you just have to be born with it.

Anyway, I lost my train of thought but as I walk along to Religion I see her walking just ahead of me. I know I'm being stupid, since the girls I hang around with wear short kilts and don't button up their shirts mostly. Hilary, on the other hand, wears the guys' uniform pants and her blouse almost totally buttoned. Today she's got a vest on top.

I just can't help but wonder what she's hiding, and I don't (totally) mean under the blouse buttons. I mean, who is she? She can't possibly have _no_ personality. I mean that's the definition of a nerd but she's got a group of girlfriends and a ton of guy friends and they always seem really happy. Happier than I feel.

I feel a bit weird, having this sort of obsession with her having never even spoken to her, but every day I can't wait to leave English so that I can see her on my way to Religion. Imagine if I told my friends about this!

I just walked into Max, and he jumped about a foot in the air.

"Sorry."

He shook his head and walked into Religion. Did I seriously piss him off that much yesterday, or is he just a little bit jumpy? I figured I should try to at least do a bit of work today. Only if Kai shows up though, which never happens.

Rick walked up to me and I followed him in, listening to his mindless conversation. Passing my usual desk I fell into a seat beside where Max was already settled in with Ray. Ray was rubbing at his already raw cheek with his sleeve where I could still see a bright pink lipstick stain.

"Good luck with that, buddy," I said. I really do want to be friendly. I haven't always been cool after all; I used to be more of an outcast than he is back in elementary school.

Ray didn't get it, instead blushed a bit and stumbled with his words. "I hate when she wears this stuff."

I don't notice much for sure, but yesterday I did notice that Max was looking a bit less peppy than usual. Today he has dark circles under his bloodshot eyes and his blue stare is wavering on the desk in front of him.

"Max, are you okay?" Ray asked, his hand falling from his face in defeat.

Max nodded, not averting his vision. Ray dared to meet my eyes and I shrugged.

"It's okay, we'll start working on something I guess."

I was hoping for some sort of friendly gesture from him, but he didn't even acknowledge me. For some reason I'm starting to worry about the kid and I think I may have pushed things too far. I guess I really shouldn't have said anything about his marks, but I was feeling a bit bitter about getting a fifty-seven on the last test.

Ray and I got working. The funny thing about Ray is that until this project I'd never heard him talk, and although he seems way too jumpy to be normal he's otherwise a pretty nice guy. I read from the book as he wrote out a list of every aspect of religion that we needed to make.

"Name is first."

"We need to know what it's about before we decide on a name," Max said dully. Ray nodded.

"So… idea first."

Ray and I started bouncing ideas off of each other, both pausing upon noticing that Max had put his head down on his arms.

"You sure you're okay?" I asked. Wow, I might be genuinely worried here.

Max nodded. "Just tired, sorry."

"No problem," Ray shrugged. "Anyway, um…"

"Music," I suggested.

"Probably taken. Movies?"

"That's not much better."

"True," Ray grinned. "Um, what about a specific movie?"

"Nah, then we're like Trekkies or something," I said, laughing. Then I caught myself. "Nothing against Star Trek…"

Ray looked at me incredulously. "No, you're right."

The door opened, and I heard Sir say, "Nice of you to show up for once."

I looked over and saw Kai in the doorway. He'd been here the day we'd been assigned groups so he silently headed over for us and sat down a little further away than made sense.

"Hey, Kai, you're not a Trekkie, are you?"

I earned myself a raised eyebrow from Kai. I can honestly say I've only heard him speak once, and that was a brilliant moment in my life. Well, not really. I told him it was, though. Ray laughed nervously and avoided looking at Kai. Max didn't move.

There was a long moment of silence.

Sir wandered over to our little group gathering. He stared at us for a moment and then said, "Well, keep it down, you four." Upon hearing his voice Max lifted his head in a less-than-eager fashion, blushing slightly.

"We're getting a lot of work done," I said. "We're using telekinesis."

"You mean telepathy," Ray corrected.

"Whatever."

"Just get some work done," he said before stomping off to complain to someone else. I grinned at Max.

"Ever heard that one before?"

"Yes," Max replied indignantly. "Come on, let's at least write something down so he'll leave us alone."

Not a bad idea, I must admit.

"Okay," Ray said with a hint of determination. "Ideas."

"Don't have any," I sighed.

"Me neither," Max added.

"Neither do I."

I looked over at Kai. Max and Ray hesitated before doing the same thing.

"No idea." His voice sounded a bit raspy as if he hadn't used it all day.

"Perfect!" I attempted a joke and got two weak smiles and a raised eyebrow in return. "I still say we worship Max's math mark, that's the only decent idea so far…"

Ray put his hand on my arm and I stopped speaking, looking over at him. I expected him to tell me off or something, but he had a light in his eyes.

"Tyson, you might be onto something," he said.

Even Kai looked at him, and he blushed. "I mean… if we did it as a sort of joke, I don't know."

"Oh, I get it," I said, grinning at Max. "I think that would actually be pretty funny."

Max raised his eyebrows at Ray. "How are we supposed to…"

"We'll be creative," I said. I was starting to like the idea of moving forward with this project, since the awkward silences were killing me.

"I like it," Kai said suddenly. We all looked at him.

"You do?" I asked, shocked.

"If we did it right," he said. "With sarcasm, you know."

Max was flushed and looked torn. "But… Oh, whatever. As long as we finish this."

Ray looked heartened. "It needs a name."

"Max's Math Mark… ism," I suggested.

"MMM…" Ray sounded, looking thoughtful.

"Mmmmm," I said. Max and Ray laughed and even Kai cracked a smile.

"Mmm…ism. Triple M. Three M. M cubed," Ray listed.

"Triple-M-ism has a sort of ring to it," I said.

"We should spell it out," Kai suggested. We all looked at him, and he rolled his eyes. "Are you going to do that every time I say something?"

The three of us laughed as he took Ray's sheet of paper and spelled out, "Trippelemism."

"I kinda like it," Max said quietly, looking at Kai's messy handwriting.

"I think we've got it," Ray agreed.

"Mmm," I agreed, making them laugh again. I felt that the air had kind of cleared between us, and when the bell rang a moment later Ray and Max both jumped.

"Is it over already?" Ray asked, glancing at the clock disbelievingly.

"Guess so," I shrugged. "Well, see you guys tomorrow."


	4. Kai Can Talk, He Just Doesn't Want To

**A/N: Fourth instalment. Kai this time! Thanks for all of your reviews, you're amazing! I hope I can keep this up. Also I really hope he isn't too OOC, I just think this would be pretty boring if he was all shut-in and silent, you know?**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing.**

**Warnings: Chapter 1**

I wasn't really aware of the time so much as I was aware that it was third period. I still made no effort to get up from where I was sitting in a distant corner of the cafeteria; I was going to get this balance sheet balanced first.

The more I scribbled in numbers and words the more relaxed I felt. Sad, isn't it? I took accounting more because I needed another Mixed level for my senior year in order to get into university, in order to make my distant relatives not hunt me down and kill me.

But when I sat at the back and pretended not to listen on the first day, some sort of warning light went off in my mind. This actually interested me. Balance sheets, income statements, journals, ledgers, the whole bit: for some reason I like doing it.

It's screwed up, I know. And trust me, Tala has let me know as well, which is why I haven't been doing my homework at home anymore. When I start punching into the calculator feverishly I feel apprehension, tension, all sorts of –ensions, until I finally see that number I needed: 81600.

YES!

Even though I'm exclaiming loudly in my head don't worry; my face stayed totally blank. I close my book and pick it up, heading for my locker. It balanced! My mind is singing.

This is so fucked up.

Anyway, I dump my accounting books into my locker and close it without bothering to grab my religion books. It helps that I don't actually _have_ a religion binder. I was thinking of going to join Tala and Spencer in the library (they were using the computers) but then I thought about religion class.

So maybe I'm more than a little intrigued with my group. Maybe I don't want to let them down by not showing up to help out. I can't believe those words passed through my mind, I must be going crazy.

Walking into religion class. As usual the teacher has a problem with me, but he's lucky that I showed up, so I ignored him and walked over to sit beside Tyson.

"Did I miss anything?"

They all gave me the usual 'did you just speak?' look. So maybe I'm a man of few words, but I do have some building up in my head, and sometimes I say them aloud. Shocking, I know, but this is the truth.

"Nope," Tyson said cheerily. "We were just talking about Wei Wei's girlfriend."

Poor Wei Wei looked embarrassed. Max was laughing. Something about his laugh is contagious and I found myself smiling.

"You mean the pink one?"

A pink Ray nodded. "Yes, the pink one."

"When's this due?" Ray looked grateful when Max changed the subject.

"Monday."

"So we have two periods to do all this?" Tyson was glancing down at the enormous list of characteristics and things we had to come up with.

"And organize a presentation," Max added, nodding sullenly. "There's no way we can do all of this in class."

"We'll try," Tyson said, seeming to get pumped up to work. Max seemed to be sharing the spirit; he was much more cheerful than yesterday. "Okay, so what do we call worshippers?"

"Mmm," Ray sounded.

"Mmm," Max agreed. "Mmm... muffins."

"Muffins?" Tyson asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No."

"No, I like muffins," Ray whined. I have to say, Ray is good at whining. Many people are just annoying but when he starts playing with his hair and pouting his lips it's really quite convincing. It helps when he adopts his (otherwise virtually nonexistent) oriental accent for the cuteness factor. Tyson sighed and skimmed the list.

"Next is place of worship."

"… Math class?" Max asked.

"This is a good point," Ray grinned. He and Max exchanged glittering smiles.

"Mmm," Tyson agreed. Max laughed and shook his head.

"It's getting old."

"Mmm," Tyson persisted. We all just looked at him but he is pretty stubborn. "MMMMM!"

Max, Ray and I laughed. I don't think I've ever laughed like this, or at least not recently, and pretty soon they were all looking at me as I ran my fingers through my hair. "What?"

"Nothing," Ray said, clearly trying not to push it. "So we worship in math class."

"In the closet," Max added. "With the graphing calculators and spare textbooks."

"Fair enough," Tyson said, jotting this down. "So we need a ritual."

"The pre-test ritual," I suggested.

"The night before," Max agreed.

"What do you do the night before a test?" Ray asked.

"Um..." Max thought about this for a moment. "Curl up in bed and cry?" He said it with a bright smile and the four of us started laughing.

"Listen to depressing music," Tyson suggested.

"And look out the window at the rain," Ray added.

"What if it's not raining?" I asked. "Would he just stare at his shower curtain or something?"

I don't think I've smiled this much in the span of one period, but here we go again. The other three are near hysterical. Max stopped and looked around at the three of us.

"Ever seen the Breakfast Club?" he asked suddenly.

Ray and I shook our heads but Tyson nodded. "Weird, isn't it?"

"Uncanny," Max corrected. "Isn't it?"

"Yeah, a bit," Tyson said thoughtfully. I can't say I've ever heard him say something thoughtfully before, but here you are.

Deciding not to ask I looked at Tyson. "Something can't be a _bit_ uncanny. It either is or isn't."

"Thanks, captain grammar," Tyson replied.

I can see him as my friend, to be honest. He would be the one I make fun of all of the time. He takes that role really well. "Any time."

The period just ended. Was I really that late, or do I just enjoy the company of obnoxious Tyson, nerdy Ray and teacher's pet Max so much that time flew by? Who knows? All I know is that I want to go down to the cafeteria for a cookie before accounting class. I'm not sure what I'll do for the rest of lunch, maybe pull Bryan out of class to hang out. Maybe do some extra accounting work. Or use the library computers. I wandered into the cafeteria and worked on picking out the perfect cookie.

As I examined them I distantly heard a squeal and some excited chirping. I glanced up to see poor Max being dragged along by Michael and Emily, who were talking excitedly. Michael let go of Max's arm and he took a deep breath, allowing them a head start as he stared avidly at the drink selection.

Eventually grabbing a bottle of vitamin water he walked in slow motion to the cash as Emily and Michael paid for their healthy selection meals and walked out. I forked over a dollar ten for my cookie (what a rip off) and was about to walk out when Max cut in front of me without noticing, grabbing the pull handle. The door didn't open.

"You have to push it, hon," I said, smirking when he jumped and looked up at me.

"I _know_, I've been going to this school for three years now."

"So you were just pulling for fun?" I asked as he opened the door and we walked through it.

"No. I… forgot. It looks like a pull handle, see," he explained.

I laughed slightly. "I noticed."

"Then why are you-" He looked so frustrated, glaring up at me with bright blue eyes. Kind of cute actually, he was much cuter than intimidating anyway.

"So, vitamin water? Really?"

"Yes," Max said stubbornly. "Why, what's wrong with it?"

"It's healthy, overpriced and flavourless," I replied smugly.

"Story of my life," Max replied. I looked at him shrewdly.

"You're not nearly as stupid as you seemed, you know that?"

"And you're not nearly as scary and antisocial," Max replied. True enough.

"Your friends are looking for you," I pointed out idly, gesturing to Michael. Max stopped in his tracks and turned around, only now realizing that we'd walked about ten metres past where they were waiting for him.

"Oh… Well I have to go, then."

Michael was staring at me as if I was a seventy on his report card or something. Max was blushing. Figuring I'd screw with them a bit more I put my arm around him.

"See you later, blondie. Try not to let them kill you."

"It'll be tough, you have no idea," he said bitterly. I laughed and ruffled his perfect hair in an affectionate way before leaving, turning back to see him hastily fix up his hair before the anti-Kai brigade could ambush him.

Lunchtime well spent, I believe. And it's only been ten minutes.


	5. Tyson had a Waffle for Breakfast

**A/N: Fifth chapter! We're back to Max again. Okay so this took forever, and I wish I could say that I'd been just working hard on it for a few weeks but it's actually just because I couldn't figure out where to end it and have been preoccupied with work and school, so when I opened the file today I decided to just end it where I left off XD**

_**Thanks so much for the reviews!!!**_

**Disclaimer: Do not own.**

**Warnings: In chapter 1. **

I really do appreciate my friends. They're wonderful people. They want the best for me. But sometimes I kind of wish they would just vanish off the face of the earth every now and then to give me a breather.

"Max," Michael said seriously, sitting me down at our table. It's _our_ table because different variations of my group of friends have sat here at every lunch, every year. "Why were you talking to him?"

Good question. I was spared answering by Emily who cut in.

"You know what he's like, Max! He's… he's…" she shrugged. "Bad."

"Guys, chill. He was just being polite."

"He's not polite!" Wow, Emily can get really shrill.

"Well he started talking to me, whatever you want to call it."

"But Max," Michael tried again. "We're only looking out for you here. Being good friends. People who talk to Kai get into trouble."

"Kai?" Hilary asked, looking up from her chemistry homework. I saw Kenny's head poke out from beside her. "Why would he even _want_ to talk to Max?"

Don't be offended, Max. Don't get angry. Don't get upset. Put on the fake smile.

"We're doing a project together, that's all. That's what we were talking about."

"Really?" Michael looked like he was on the verge of letting it go, and I sighed in relief. "How's that going, anyway?"

"Better than I thought," I admitted, laughing. "Still not good though."

"Just do it all yourself," was Emily's suggestion. She looked over at the others. "Max is in the group from _hell_." She whispered it as if the Pope was going to hear her or something.

"Who's in it?" Hilary asked me.

"Tyson, Ray and Kai."

"Tyson, yuck," she said, wrinkling her nose. "He's so obnoxious."

I nodded. I didn't really think so anymore, but I was fighting a losing battle anyway.

"And Ray? Brutal, he doesn't even talk."

"He talks," I shrugged. "He does the most work out of the three of them."

"Isn't he dating Pinky?"

Oh good, now they're talking about Mariah and all of her… pink. Remarkable that no one knows anything about her except that she likes pink, isn't it? Similarly most people know Ray as 'the kid with the hair'. Just like how people probably know me as 'the blonde one with the marks.' I tuned them out, eyes drifting to the clock.

XXX

These three are slowly drifting into other parts of my life. On Friday morning Ray greeted me enthusiastically in the hallway. Tyson was by my locker with a greeting of his own and a valiant attempt to make me laugh (I'd had another sleepless night and was, as such, not full of candy yet). During second period I left class to take attendance down and passed Kai, skipping class in the stair well, who said 'see you in religion'.

I'm fine with that, really.

This, on the other hand, may be too much.

"We're never going to finish in time," Ray sighed, putting his head down on our limited work. His hair fanned around it, the glossy black reflecting the ceiling lights almost blindingly.

Tyson grabbed the messy ponytail and pulled Ray's head up. "We're going to have to do this outside of school."

Ray swiped Tyson's cap off of his head and tossed it behind his chair as Tyson cried out in horror. "I'm down. Not like I have anything else planned for my Friday night."

Tyson was laughing even as he took the cap I'd retrieved for him. "Me neither, Daichi wanted to hang out but now he's grounded."

"For what?"

"For being annoying, I don't know. Max, are you free?"

I had to be honest. "Yeah."

I looked at Kai. Please say no. Please say no. Please say…

"Yeah, I've got nothing better to do."

I tried not to let the terror show on my face. I have to see these three outside of school? And what if they come to my house? Oh that would be SO bad. And even if not I'm going to just lose my mind because I can't deal with this I just CAN'T.

But I have to, I guess.

"Well we can't do my house," Tyson put in. "My parents are ready to murder me."

"My parents are scary and imposing," I said. Tyson staged a mock shiver of terror and I laughed.

"My parents are dead," Kai contributed. None of us were sure how to reply so Tyson and I instead turned to Ray.

"Mine live in China," Ray finished. "But my foster parents wouldn't have a problem with it…"

"Okay, Wei Wei, your house it is."

"Shall we say 4:00?"

The bell rang just as Ray finished writing out his address for all of us. I pocketed it and headed down for lunch.

What should I wear?

I wish I had friends who I could call and ask. If I asked Michael he would say, 'who cares?' Well I care, obviously.

Most of my wardrobe consists of polo shirts. Wait, it's winter. I have sweaters. One of those then. A pullover or zip-up?

Who cares?

Pullover it is. Jeans are on, uniform is in the laundry and my parents have been given the fake story: Going to the library to study. Yeah, by myself. If I said someone was coming with me they'd find out somehow.

I was the first one there. I could tell because when Ray opened the door he had a brush stuck in his hair.

He was wearing jeans with a Chinese traditional shirt. It's different seeing people from school out of uniform. He smiled at me and I returned it, walking in.

"Sorry, my hair gets so tangled at school," he said, starting to drag the brush through as he led me into what I presumed was his room.

"I can imagine," I replied, looking at the knot he was trying to brush through. He didn't even wince and I figured this must be a daily thing.

Ray's house was about the same size as mine, your typical upper-middle class home. He didn't share a room but I knew he lived with Lee. There were pictures pinned to the wall, mostly of him and his friends and many of them in a village which he must have come from.

"There," he breathed finally. His hair was falling long and silky now and I watched him start to pull it into a tight braid. "So how was your day?"

"Fine," I shrugged. It's true; all of my days are pretty much the same. Nothing really goes wrong. Nothing really goes right either, though. "And you?"

"Same old," he said with the usual grin. "How'd you like that math lesson?"

"Not bad, I guess…" Okay, that was a lie. "I mean I didn't really get it, only because I couldn't concentrate."

One of the things I like about Ray is that he always has the right reactions to things, and they always seem genuine. He pouted. "Maybe I can help you out later, if we have time."

I smiled at him. He finished his braid and had just sat down beside me on his bed when the doorbell rang.

He jumped up with surprising agility and went to answer it. He returned with Tyson and Kai. Tyson was in his usual jeans and T-shirt, Kai in _his_ usual nonconforming array of clothes I've never seen in any store before. Today his shirt was painfully form-fitting and I forced my mind to think of a greater priority: homework.

I had brought my laptop along, and pulled it out of my bag. "So I started typing out everything we have so far…"

We did some work for sure. We filled out all of the necessary information, argued over names for things and rituals but eventually got it down. More than that we laughed and got off topic so often that we started a game of punching someone in the arm every time they said something that didn't have to do with Trippelemism.

"OW!"

"Sorry, Ty," I said, grinning at him as he rubbed his arm. In response he tackled me to the floor. I wasn't sure entirely what was going on except that I was on the floor and couldn't stop laughing.

I heard Kai's voice, "get a room, you two. Shit, Ray!"

Tyson got off of me and I looked up to see Ray doubled over laughing.

"I didn't know you could hit like that," Kai said, looking at Ray suspiciously. He shrugged.

"Tyson and Max's more-than-friendly relationship does _not_ have to do with our religion project."

I couldn't help but blush, and Tyson started laughing. "You wish we had one of those. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, definitely," Ray grinned. "My favourite."

I averted everyone's eyes as they started talking about our previous engagement again – writing a prayer, that is. Out of sheer laziness Tyson had decided that we should simply reword the Lord's Prayer so as not to have to write our own.

Tyson cleared his throat, preparing to recite what we'd done so far. "Ahem. Max's math mark, which art on his report card, sacred be thy grade. Thy tests be marked, thy homework done, in the classroom as it is at home. Give us this day our daily assignment and forgive us our…"

"Failures?" was Ray's suggestion.

"Too harsh," Tyson said.

"Seventies," Kai corrected.

"And forgive us our seventies, as we forgive those who…"

"Always distract us," I suggested, having almost gotten over my embarrassment.

"And lead us not into anything fun,"

"But deliver us from procrastination," Ray finished.

"Can I just point out how blasphemous this is?" I asked.

"You can," Kai granted. "So what next?"

I laughed. "No, I'm serious, what if he takes marks off for that?"

"He's just going to be shocked that we actually did anything," Tyson grinned at me. "Yeah, moving on."

It was something like 10:00. Having barely slept this week it only took five minutes' discussion of designing a ritual before I started to drift off – we were sitting on Ray's bedroom floor and my head was against the side of his mattress, making it much too easy. I was slipping between consciousness and slumber when I was awoken sharply by a sharp poke in my side.

I looked down, startled. Kai had poked me with his capped pen. He was now avoiding my eyes and I sighed, slumping against the bed.

"Awake now?" Ray asked. There was something fond in his voice that made me wonder if this was what real friends were like.

"What, was I asleep?"

Tyson laughed. "For like twenty minutes."

I blushed. "Oh. Sorry, I haven't been sleeping much."

"Why not?"

I felt a little bit of discomfort but the answer slipped out. "I've been so stressed out lately. Usually everything runs smoothly but this year it's all just upside down."

Tyson looked like he was trying to understand, something which greatly surprised me. "What's going on?"

"Nothing important," I sighed. "Don't worry about it."

This obviously wasn't good enough for Tyson, who jokingly grabbed my hands and looked into my eyes. "And how does that make you _feel_?"

Ray and I started laughing and I shook Tyson off. "Shut up."

"Max, you can't say that you haven't been sleeping because of nothing important," Ray reasoned. "It's not like anyone here has any connection with you. Just say."

I looked at the floor miserably. He was at least wrong about one part. "Well I'm pretty sure I'm getting a sixty-five in math, and my parents are splitting up, and being around my friends kind of makes me want to kill myself."

Tyson raised his eyebrows. "Nothing important, you're right. Enough about you, let's talk about me. So I had a waffle for breakfast this morning..."

"Lucky," Ray pouted. Then he looked at me. "Sorry about your parents."

"Don't be, the sooner it happens the sooner I don't have to listen to them screaming anymore."

"What's wrong with your friends?"

This feels a lot like a therapy session (not that I would know, my parents would rather spend their pay on gas for the SUV than a shrink for me). "Nothing. They're just so perfect, all of them. And I'm supposed to be just like them, but I kind of don't want to, you know?"

Ray laughed. "Oh, I know. I'm getting the same thing from my friends right now. That I'm supposed to be just like them, I mean."

"Wei Wei!" Tyson sang. Ray pushed him, smiling.

"But I know I love them. They can just be a bit… stuffy, sometimes."

I nodded. "Yeah, same here."

Tyson beamed at us. "Well don't worry, you've got friends in high places now."

"And also Tyson," Kai added, smirking. He hadn't spoken up this whole time; this definitely wasn't his kind of conversation. I felt even more embarrassed that I'd said all that in front of him. Imagine if I'd said… well, never mind. It's unsaid and it needs to stay that way. Forever, preferably.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"That Kai's in a high place and you're not," was Ray's translation. Tyson stuck his tongue out and Kai laughed.

"Thanks for the demonstration."


	6. Max Took The Midnight Train

**A/N: Happy New Year!! :) Hope everyone's had a good one so far. So this took a long time, sorry about that... And I hope you enjoy!  
1, Thanks for all the reviews!! You're all wonderful.  
2, I hope I've managed to do an okay job developing Ray, since he was a bit of a blank canvas and I didn't know just what to do with him...  
3, Does anyone have an opinion on what Ray should do with Mariah?  
**

Good morning, world.

Just because it's a good morning it doesn't mean I'm going anywhere. My bed is warm and snugly, my pillow is soft and the sunlight is warming the back of my head. I feel a stab of annoyance as heavy footsteps make their way to my closed bedroom door.

There's no knock, no recognition whatsoever. Lee just throws the door open and walks right on in. It's not that I don't like living with him, but spending all your time with someone gets tiring after a while so I rolled over and pulled the covers over my head.

Lee pulled them back and glared at me.

"Ray."

"That's my name."

"I talked to Mariah." Oh joy. Mariah and I had a bit of an… incident, let's say, yesterday after school.

She decided that we were going out for ice cream. I told her that I had to work on a project instead. The fact is that even though I'm entitled not to spend every day of my life with my girlfriend at the age of sixteen, I do. So it makes sense for her to be hurt when suddenly I want to change that.

I'm really torn up about this. It's easy to joke about her pink and her stupid pet names and the way she makes a fool of herself around me. It's not so easy to admit that I'm scared of losing her. I've always had her; I don't know what things would be like without her.

Anyway, I have time to decide about Mariah. The issue at hand, now. "Did you now?"

"Yes, I did, and she's upset."

"I noticed. Lee, I had to do a project."

"All night? They were here when I got home."

"They weren't here that long."

"I got home at midnight."

"What were you doing out until midnight?"

"Ray."

"Right, sorry. We actually were working until then, but Max fell asleep like six times so we had to call it a night. We're going to have to work on it again tomorrow."

"Seriously?" Lee looked around at all the papers scattered on my bedroom floor and sat down on my bed. Confrontation mode has officially ended. "So what's it like, working with them? Bad?"

"Not so bad," I admitted. "They're kind of fun." Lee looked dumbfounded, and I grinned. "What? I mean they all think we're really boring people, couldn't we have been wrong about them too?"

Lee shrugged and looked out the window absently. "You know you can make friends with whoever, but be careful, alright?"

"Yeah, okay," I agreed, not entirely concerned.

Wanting to get out of the stuffy house I decided to wander over to the superstore. Grocery list in hand and mental list on my mind (mostly consisting of staring enviously at their notebook selection, and no, I don't mean the kind you write in) I walked through the sliding doors and greeted the greeter before she had a chance to welcome me.

Ignoring produce, beauty and the 'family planning' sections I passed through I headed straight for those glossy black boxes of over 250-gigabyte goodness. I was examining the RAM of one machine (at the low price of $2500) when suddenly I would have been knocked face first into the display, if not for my excellent balance.

"WEI WEI!"

Okay, that wasn't Mariah's voice. Sure enough, sprawled on the floor and laughing about as hard as I was lay Tyson. I helped him to his feet and he looked over my shoulder at the computer.

"Now I know what to get you for Christmas."

"Don't even tease me like that."

"Why? It's just a laptop."

"Which would be a brilliant replacement for my ten-year-old desktop," I sighed, glancing back at it. "But I don't have that kind of money."

"But you have a girlfriend."

"Um, yes, but that's not really the same thing."

"Sure."

"Tyson, do you even listen to yourself when you talk?"

"Not really." Having given up on window shopping I started towards the cookie aisle, Tyson walking along beside me. I only noticed then that he had a bright red apron on.

"Shouldn't you be working?"

"Me, work?"

Fair enough. "Okay, why don't you help me find these items? I'm terribly lost."

"Really? You seem to know where you're going."

"Ty, I'm trying to give you an excuse not to work. Just go with it."

Comprehension dawning on his face he started to talk at a loud volume. "It's okay, sir, just show me your list and that language barrier will be no trouble at all!"

"I am, how you say… very grateful," I replied with a strong accent. We set off across the store, chatting loudly in various fake accents. Ty was in the middle of describing his Texas ranch to me in a horrible impression of a Southern voice when we walked past Hilary, who was sifting through cartons of milk with a woman who was presumably her mother. His voice faltered, something I'd never heard from him.

We were silent for a moment and I was forced to listen to the bad music on the store radio. Finally I spoke up. "Um, Tyson?"

"Yeah?"

"What was that?"

"What?"

"That."

"What?"

"That."

"What's that?"

"Nothing. What was that?"

"What?"

"TYSON."

"WHAT?"

We were laughing again as he helped me pick out the cheapest frozen peas. "You suddenly stopped talking in your stupid accent as we passed Hilary."

"My accent isn't stupid."

"You like her."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Let's not do this."

"Okay, fine."

"So you do!" I said triumphantly.

"I guess I might."

"Then ask her out."

"Um, no."

"Oh, okay then."

"I never see her out of out uniform," he said vaguely, glancing back at the brunette who was wearing jeans and a sweater; not exactly far off from the uniform actually.

"Yes, very nice."

"Ray."

"Sorry. What do you want me to say? Ask her out."

"She doesn't like me."

He may be right there. "Okay, then talk to Max, he's her friend."

"He is?"

"You didn't know that?"

"No, actually. Okay, well you're all set." Tyson shook my hand cordially.

"Thanks for all the help."

"It was my pleasure."

"I bet it was."

"You wish it was."

"You wish I wished it was."

"You would."

"Tyson!" Ah, that must be his manager. I quickly put on my accent again.

"Thank you very much." I bowed and Tyson bowed back at me. "You should give him a raise," I added, looking at his manager before setting off for the cash.

I was enjoying the mild weather on the way back, even though my gaze didn't lift from the sidewalk. When I heard my name being called I could tell that it wasn't a first attempt and screeched to a halt (not really), turning in surprise.

It was a bus stop, and Max was sitting in it.

"Wow, you guys are everywhere now," I observed, though privately thinking that we probably haven't changed our routines, only just started noticing each other. "Hey, how's it going?"

"Alright." Max paused and looked down and I got a strange feeling that he hadn't wanted to be seen here. Then again he did get my attention. "Um, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Where are you headed?"

"I'm not really sure," Max admitted. "I just needed to get out of the house, my mom is pissed. She… my dad is gone."

"Gone where?"

"My guess would be a motel somewhere, unless he has someone to stay with."

I've never been through anything like this before. Actually I look at my parents with perfect reverence, probably because they're so far away, and so consider them to be the picture of flawless relationships and parenting. I don't know what Max must be feeling. All I know is that it can't be all that good.

I didn't have a response so acted on instinct, sidling into the bus shelter and sitting on the bench beside him. "Sorry." He smiled slightly and nodded, both of us lapsing into silence.


	7. Kai Studies Humpback Fails

**A/N: Hello! Here's a Tyson chapter, that doesn't revolve all that much around Tyson. I hope the lack of response to Max's problem isn't too disappointing, but we will return to that shortly. It's just not like Tyson to notice things like that. Anyway, I could ramble on but I won't, since I'm sure you'd rather read the story than read me talk about it. Thanks for the response to my Mariah situation! Very helpful, I promise.**

**Thanks for the reviews; you all make my day every time!!**

**Ten reviews and I'll post the next chapter before the end of this week!**

Ray's hair was in a ponytail that day, tied up with a (in my opinion) hilarious bow. "So after we draw a unit circle on the chalkboard, we're going to…"

"Isn't this the part with the Creed to Trigonometry?" I interrupted.

"No, that's the opening prayer."

"Which one is that again?" Kai looked lazily up from the book he'd been flipping through.

Ray swept bangs out of his eyes for the twentieth time that minute. "The one that's like, I believe in nightly homework, the sacred radian mode…"

"No, that one definitely came after the unit circle," Kai confirmed, nodding at me as if I were worthy of him.

"THANK you," I exclaimed, presently forgetting that we were in a library. Ray and the Librarian had a bit of an unspoken contest going to see who could shush me first. This time Ray won.

"Please try to control yourself," he suggested curtly before flipping a page in the book of cults he was holding. "Do we do any weird sacrifices?"

"How about our social lives?" Kai asked, not looking up from _Worshipping the Anti-Christ_. "That sounds realistic."

Ray peered over Kai's shoulder at the book. "Is that a whale?"

"I think it's a boat," Kai responded with raised eyebrows.

"Whale fail," I threw in.

"Humpback fail," Kai corrected. Well that was bizarre.

Before Ray could respond I had jumped out of my seat. "Max!"

"Shh!" bellowed the librarian. You'd think she did this for a living or something, she gets some great volume out of that sound. Ray hadn't been able to reprimand me this time as he'd been too busy ushering Max into the fourth seat at our table.

"How is everything? Where did you stay last night? Are you feeling okay? Did you sleep at all? I know I wouldn't have. Do you want a coffee later?"

"Ray, calm down," Kai said drily. Ray had told us about Max's parents earlier that day and had told me many times to be nice to him. As if I wasn't already.

Max seemed to have given up at the second question so his response was, "I went back home eventually."

"Oh, was your mom worried?"

"Not about me. She was more worried about her money."

"Heavens no, not the money," I said in the process of returning to my much scribbled on project outline. Ray kicked me in the shins but Max laughed.

We worked for hours. I'm not kidding, _hours_. I've never worked so much on anything before. There's this nice little satisfaction that goes into actually liking the work I'm doing and everyone, even Kai for pi's sake, is contributing.

And yes, I just said 'for pi's sake', because pi is the god of Trippelemism. And if that isn't hysterical enough for you, get this: the Pythagorean theorem is one of our sacred works. Like a book in the bible, only it's just an equation, written in the holy hand of Pythagoras himself. We have more, like the cosine law and stuff.

"I feel like I'm studying for math," Max put in as we made a group effort to memorize the unnecessarily complicated quadratic formula. "Now I won't have to memorize these for the test."

"You're right. On the test I'm going to be going…" I put on a bizarre chanting voice. "Negative b plus or minus the square root…" Ray and Max laughed.

"So we still need…" Ray skimmed down the list. "We need to name the followers, and create a hierarchy of religious leaders."

Kai looked at the clock on the wall. "So we're not going to be done for tomorrow."

I looked up too; it was 6:30. We still had to make a poster and other visuals, all that stuff Ray just said, and then print out the write up. Oh, and we have to somehow get a pie. I glanced at Max, waiting for him to suggest that we pull an all-nighter and finish it.

Max was looking at Kai with a bit of uncertainty. "So?"

Ray and I exchanged looks of shock, and even Kai raised his eyebrows.

"Gentlemen, I do believe we're making progress," I grinned. Ray laughed, Max blushed, and Kai punched me in the arm.

"OW!"

"SHH!" That came from Ray, Max and the Librarian, all in unison.

"Don't be mad at me, Kai started it!" I argued in a whisper.

"You didn't have to yell," Max reasoned.

"But he didn't have to punch me in the arm!"

"You got off topic," Kai justified. I rolled my eyes and started piling the stacks of books we had collected for ideas.

Max, as usual, leapt out of his seat to help me. He's admirable, I have to admit; being so helpful and nice when he's having a tough time. Granted, he could carry about half the amount I had. We brought them back to the religion shelves.

"So Max, you talk to Hilary?"

Wait, did I just say that? Who has taken over my body?!

Max gave me a small smile as he unloaded his armfuls of books onto a cart. "Yes, Ray mentioned that to me. You've got your work cut out for you, sorry."

"What do you mean?" I started to pile books onto the cart as well. "Like I _know_ she doesn't like me, I mean, why would she? But…"

Max raised his eyebrows. "I never thought I'd hear that from you, Ty. Okay, well she thinks you're a bit arrogant, that's all. You'd just have to break the stereotype wall before she'll talk to you. She's a bit…"

"Feisty."

"I was going to say assertive," Max said apprehensively.

"Feisty sounds like more fun."

"Feisty sounds like a misbehaved puppy or something."

"Max, you need a girlfriend."

"I definitely don't," he replied without looking at me. He sounded cheery enough so I didn't have to let it go. "You're going to have to do some pushing, anyway."

"I don't mind a challenge," I shrugged. "So about this Emily girl…"

"She is the _last_ thing on my mind right now." Max wasn't trying to get away; in fact he had started thumbing through a scary looking book about cults.

"She's not a thing, she's a girl."

"Whatever."

"I mean I understand if you're not into that sort of thing…" Max just laughed, and some sort of alarm went off in my mind. "Hey, you didn't deny it."

"What didn't I deny?"

"Well I just implied that you don't like girls."

"Yeah…" Max was using his 'you're not as smart as me' tone now, as if I was missing something obvious.

"And you didn't deny it."

"No, I guess I didn't."

"So we're on the same page here?" I asked.

"Ty, I have no idea what you're getting at," he grinned.

"Max, you're weird."

"So are you," he shrugged. "Anyway, are we going to stand here questioning my orientation or are we going to help Ray and Kai pack up everything else?"

"Um, yeah, but I have to ask you one thing."

"Go for it."

I'm not one to avoid forward questioning. "Why are you telling me this?"

For once, Max didn't seem to know the answer. He thought about it for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip. "I don't know," he said finally, shrugging. "I guess because you're the first person who ever cared enough to ask."

"Alright, fair enough."

"And don't worry, it's not like I'd ever be interested in you."

Max had started walking toward our table before I recognized what he'd said to me. "HEY!" I shouted, running after him. He was laughing near hysterically as half the library started making stupid shushing noises.

"Can we leave before we get kicked out?" Ray asked graciously enough. The four of us (we make a pretty awkward crew) plodded out of the library.

"Well Max seems alright," Ray said as soon as we'd split in twos, setting off for different bus stops. "I'm glad, it must be tough."

"He did seem okay," I agreed, not entirely worried.

"But he's really good at pretending to be okay, so who knows?"

"If he wanted us to know anything, he'd tell us." As soon as I said it I realized how bizarre that was. Look at it this way: If Max was really upset and needed someone to talk to, I just know that he'd come to Ray, Kai and I. The picture perfect student will bring his problems to the foreign kid, the menace to society and me, the obnoxious one.

Ray seemed to have the same ideas as me, since the next thing he said was, "wow, this is messed up."

"Yeah, really," I agreed. We smiled at each other, not really minding.

When Ray got off the bus, Hilary got on. I think he may be magical. I flagged her down.

"Hey, Hilary," I said with my best smile.

"Hi." She seemed to be looking around desperately for another free seat, but no such luck. The bus moved and she quickly flung herself into Ray's deserted seat, refusing to look at me.

"How was your weekend?"

"Not bad, you?" She still didn't look at me.

"Pretty good. I spent the whole time working on a religion project."

"And that's pretty good?" she asked doubtfully, finally looking at me.

I remembered what Max had said about breaking the stereotype wall. "Yeah, I don't mind sitting down and getting some work done once in a while. Also the guys are pretty fun to work with."

"Really." Hilary seemed unimpressed, and I sighed. Is this really worth the effort? I mean she's cute, and really… different. But maybe it's one of those cases of only wanting what you can't have.

"So what did you do?"

"Oh, not much. Okay, this is my stop, bye!"

"Bye."

"Where have you been all day?"

Dai Chi causes many headaches for me, let me tell you. I only just walked in the door and already he has called my cell to harass me. And I was not in the mood to be harassed.

"The library." Wow, never thought I'd say that honestly.

Apparently neither did Dai Chi. "Yeah, okay. Seriously, where were you? I've been calling since noon."

"I was at the library," I repeated, lolloping up the stairs, effectively ignored by anyone else who might have been in the house. "Working on religion."

"Oh, that," Dai Chi finally clued in. "Wait, you're actually working on it? You never work on things."

"I know, but it's kind of funny," I replied, pretty much honestly. "Anyway, it's Sunday, it's not like anything else is going on."

"I guess not." And the topic is officially dropped; as if any of my friends would get caught talking about school on a weekend. Except Max, I reminded myself, taking a moment to appreciate how weird it is to think of him as my friend.


	8. Wei Wei is a WEBBEL

**Hey guys, I've been so busy this weekend. I kept checking my e-mail praying not to have that last review I asked for so I wouldn't have to take half an hour to read over/post this one XD But thanks for the nine! And I know I kinda lied, since the week is not quite over (unless you count Sunday as day 1, then I did not lie) but don't complain, here's your chapter.**

**It's a Kai chapter!**** There are a lot of things I'm unsure about in this one – the whole first part, the whole second part, and, um, the whole third part. So yeah, the whole thing! Tala turned out kind of crazy pants. I didn't really mean to do it but there it is, so, um, enjoy it I guess. XD Also, are you ready for this warning?**

**WARNING: A very tiny little SLIVER of yaoi, right here in this chapter (what can I say, Kai doesn't like to gush, so it's just a sliver). Don't like it, don't read it, simple as that. Don't say I didn't warn you!**

**There, I said it. Also thanks sooo much for the reviews as always, and I hope you enjoy! Next update will be whenever I have time to do that, so no pressure to review this time around.  
**

The 7:30 bus arrives, if you can believe this, at 7:30. The bus before that is the 6:30 bus. And it's 6:45. The conclusions which can be drawn from this are that the last bus left fifteen minutes ago, and with some simple subtraction one might notice that we have to wait forty-five minutes for the next one to come by.

Max explains each of these things to me as we walk past the bus shelter to some cement steps around the back of the library. I would tell him to shut up but I think I prefer listening to mindless chatter over making some of my own, or even worse, an awkward silence.

Unfortunately, Max fell silent when the bus rap was over. The only thing I could think of to say was, "so what time does the 5:30 bus arrive at?"

I got myself an eye roll for that. "You know, I don't mind just not talking."

That's news to me, I'll admit. Maybe we have more in common than I thought.

I think fifteen minutes passed here. Max was sitting totally still; I was drumming my fingers against the concrete beside me, watching him, wondering what he was thinking about. Well it's obvious, he's thinking about his parents. Or maybe pitying himself because he's sitting on concrete steps in what look like expensive jeans. I guess the fact that I'm here can't help either, in my library best: black jeans, black shirt, plenty of studded things to go along with them. I bet mommy and daddy would break down and cry if they could see him now.

I don't miss things, including the moment when he rubbed the back of his hand against his eyes. So he is thinking about his parents.

I'll admit something else: I was a little bit nervous. I'm not good at comforting people at all. If you hadn't guessed. I should have just stayed quiet but somehow I couldn't stand it anymore, so I said the only thing on my mind just then. "You said it wouldn't be so bad, because you wouldn't have to listen to them fight anymore."

That was tactless, so his response caught me off guard. He looked up, seeming pleasantly surprised. "Yeah, I did. I didn't think you were listening."

"I'm always listening," I shrugged, looking away again.

The silence had started to annoy me so I was grateful when blondie opened his mouth again. "I did say that. And it's not so bad, just really… weird. Nothing feels real. I actually can't _believe_ that it happened."

Another long silence followed, replacing what was supposed to be my profound and reassuring response. My mind was busy turning his words over when he interrupted it with something more to think about.

"I know you probably don't want to hear about my problems, but I'm so stressed and I have no one to talk to, it just keeps slipping out without me wanting it to."

"I think you'll find me to be an adequate listener." I can't believe I just said that.

"Oh, no thanks, I couldn't."

"You don't have to be so formal around me." My voice came out critical, which wasn't exactly how I meant it to sound.

"It's called politeness," he said with a bit of scorn in his voice. "You must know that."

"Much better," I said, even smirking a little. It really was much better; when he got that attitude so unlike the person he always pretended to be I found I liked him a lot more.

"Is it?" he asked without much feeling, staring out at the street. I still looked at him.

He pretty much had everything you need to look like the perfect adolescent: blonde hair that sits flawlessly, blue eyes that are wholly innocent, freckles that dumb him down to about twelve, untouched ivory skin. And of course he's decked out in all the brands 'everyone' has.

So altogether he's revolting, until he drops the act that is. Every time he makes some sarcastic comment or points out some mistake of Tyson's he becomes entirely more appealing. I should write that compliment down somewhere for later use. I'm such a charmer, aren't I? Apparently Max thinks I am, because I just touched his arm and he jumped out of his skin.

Oh Pythagoras, I have started making sarcastic comments to myself, in my head, again. Will the madness ever stop? Evidently not. Max has gotten over his momentary terror and is staring at me like I have two heads.

I probably do.

Shut up, Kai, shut up.

And people wonder why I don't talk much. Can you imagine if I did?

"Um, Kai, are you aware that you just touched my arm, or should I just write it off as an involuntary spasm?"

"Smaller words, Max, I'm just a humble hoodlum."

Max raised an eyebrow at me. "Hoodlum is a pretty good one too, although I wouldn't go so far as to call you one, and you haven't answered my question."

"Yes, I am aware."

"Then… why did you do it?"

"Involuntary spasm," I explained. Max rolled his eyes and looked away, and I full out grinned. Not many people catch me at moments of weakness like that, but Max managed to turn back just in time.

"Okay, you're scaring me," Max said, looking at me shrewdly, obviously not the slightest bit intimidated. You know how I mentioned that he's 'appealing' when he starts acting all badass on me? Yes, that pretty much sums it up for just now. I wasn't exactly shocked that he didn't shift away (there wasn't much space left between us at this point) and for once my mind had one straightforward, simple and pretty much possible (excluding the possibility of acts of pi) idea.

I'm the kind of person who goes out and gets what he wants, without inhibitions, as soon as I realize I want it. And after a moment's hesitation Max didn't seem to mind at all, in fact he seemed pretty keen to have Kai Hiwitari's tongue shoved into his mouth, all things considered. Maybe it was because the sun was down and no one could see anyway, or because he was too stressed to care what happened to him. But he didn't mind at all.

I wasn't surprised that he tasted like cinnamon, but I did slow down to enjoy the unexpected thinness of his waist. Otherwise my mind was pretty much on auto-pilot, very few thoughts drifting across it. And trust me, that's a first.

It wasn't long before we both looked up at the sound of a bus engine – they're pretty hard to miss on a quiet road.

"It must be 7:30," I said helpfully. Max was on my lap at this point but still had to look up to meet my eyes.

"When does the 8:30 bus get here?"

"8:30," I replied. He only allowed himself a second's laughter before pushing right back into our previous engagement, his hands working into my hair. See, I told you he didn't mind.

And you know what's weird about this? I don't think I mind either.

XX

"Kai."

"Hello." I blinked early morning sunlight out of my eyes, the redhead in front of me coming into focus, cigarette poking out of his mouth. None of the teachers who might have passed would have bothered to point out that he's underage. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I don't know, I must have lost my mind." Tala gave me one of his fanatical smiles as I leaned against the wall of the school beside him, surveying the filling parking lot. "What did you get up to last night?"

"What makes you think I got up to something?"

"Well I would hardly think you were up all night writing financials again," Tala shrugged, raising an eyebrow. "That's by far the weirdest fetishism I've ever heard of, by the way. But no, you were with the religion kids."

"Are you stalking me?"

"Yes." Another terrifying smile. This guy scares even me sometimes, but don't get me wrong, I love him to bits. "Kai, darling, I know you've been preying on the little blonde one for a while now." Tala likes to use stuff like 'preying on' instead of normal things like 'interested in', as if I'm hunting them or something. I think it's creepy, but there are few people I can't argue with and he's one of them.

"I have not."

"You have."

Might as well be honest here. "Not since yesterday."

"See? I'm psychic!"

"Tala, you are a lot of things, but that's not one of them."

"Sure. Be careful with him, I bet he breaks easily."

He is sensationally insane, that's what makes him wonderful. "Yeah, whatever. I have to go, my detention started ten minutes ago."

Tala glared at me. "Fine, I see how it is."

In case you were wondering why _I_ arrived at school this early then that should clear things up for you. I've been told that if I skip another detention it'll be a suspension, and I don't need another one on my record if I want to get into any form of post-secondary institution. So I'm stuck in a classroom with a couple of bratty grade nines and a teacher for the next half hour.

Walking into my English teacher's room I ignored Tala's talk about weird fetishisms (always a good idea) and dumped an armful of accounting books on my desk. Maybe it's in my blood to be in business, I thought as I started doing the weekend's homework.

Yes, my entire family is in some sort of business – the business of crushing smaller corporations with their big names and even bigger money. It's so easy now, the figures in front of me appearing in some bizarre way as more than just digits, they're dollars and assets and some of them aren't anything at all, just imaginary numbers which are handed out to stockholders to make them happy…

I broke my pencil upon looking out the corner of my eye to see Ray grinning back at me.

I did not bother to hide my astonishment. "How the hell did _you_ end up in here?"

"Kai!" barked the teacher from the front of the room. I nodded curtly before turning back to Ray.

"What can I say, I'm a bit of a rebel," he whispered, smirking at me as he unpacked his math textbook. I couldn't help but let out a derisive sort of snort at this and Ray beamed at me. "I got caught skipping mass."

"You seem awfully proud of yourself," I said, starting to scribble away at a Statement of Retained Earnings with a newly sharp pencil.

"So what are you in for?" Ray asked, still with the big grin.

"Missing my last three detentions."

Ray gave an exasperated sigh. "And what was the first one for?"

"Abusive behaviour and language inappropriate for a Catholic learning environment."

"Abusive?"

"I didn't even hit him. I should have," I added, putting down my pencil. "But he went running for a teacher before I had a chance to."

"Oh, Kai." Ray looked disappointed and I rolled my eyes. "What did he do to deserve that?"

"To deserve what? All I did was yell at him…"

"And swear, apparently…"

"What I said was _nothing_ compared to the shit he came out with."

"Oh. About you?"

"Tala."

"Oh." Ray seemed satisfied with this. "Well it's a good thing you didn't do anything more or you'd be suspended."

"I don't mind a week off."

"But we need you for our project," Ray reminded me. "You can't let us down _now_." Pushing the long, tightly wound braid over his shoulder Ray grimaced at his homework, and I returned to mine.

XX

Later that day: Religion class time. On the way in I walked past Wei Wei and Mariah, who appeared to be tickling each other. Hmm, rebel indeed. Tyson caught my eye as we met outside the classroom door.

"Max has us covered," Tyson muttered as we sat around Wei Wei's desk as usual. "About the due date I mean."

I looked up. Max was standing beside the teacher's desk, blushing, talking to the floor rather than the concerned teacher. I heard something about 'family emergency' and 'couldn't finish in time' before Sir started interrupting him.

"Oh, don't worry at all, I was thinking about extending it anyway." Yeah, right. It's only because Max is a favourite, and thank good old 3.14 for that. (3.14 is pi, pi is god, keep up!) We wouldn't want to hand in a project late, would we? Note my slight sarcasm.

Anyway, Max stood there blushing like the good boy we all know he's not as Sir stood up and said something about the project being due on Thursday. When he had sat down to continue his day's hard work (checking his Facebook updates on the school computer) Ray stumbled into the room, trying to detangle his hair with his fingers as he rushed over to us. Max, on the other hand, had been somehow magnetically pulled to the other end of the room.

I'm not a huge fan of Michael's, and he was up talking to Max very seriously, with a no-nonsense hand on his shoulder. Emily clambered off of her chair and ran over to drape all over the blonde, who I could tell was getting annoyed.

And what's this, Kai? Are you really jealous, or are you just joking with me?

Well no, I'm not joking, that's the thing. _There's_ something I'm not used to. I just couldn't pull my eyes away from the stupid kilted girl hugging Max and crooning about how bad she felt about what happened. That's my job, back off. Not that I'm going to actually _do_ that, but you know what I mean.

Or do you? I certainly don't.


	9. Max Performs Reconstructive Surgery

**Max time!**

**Why do I find Max so much easier to write? Probably because I can relate to his stereotype the most (GAH! SEVENTY!!) But yes, I did start this about a day after posting the last chapter. Now don't hate me, I had exams and a new semester (involving Calculus and Vectors, kill me) and I wanted to read it over and edit it.**

**That went well, as you can see by the amount of time that has passed.**

**On the bright side I have Writers Craft, so my pathetically slow updates can be better written. Also, I just proved myself wrong by using a cliché in that last sentence.**

**Hope you like it. Psycho Judy makes an appearance as well as a bit of background info and a lot of Max slowly losing his mind.**

Oh, how I hate mornings.

Actually I hate afternoons as well, now that I think of it. And evenings aren't so fantastic. And nights… well let's just say we have a rough relationship.

You know what? I'm sixteen, I'm allowed to angst just a little. Yes, I understand about starving children and underdeveloped countries, but…

Oh hell, I can't even angst properly. Now I'm thinking about people with real problems.

Hello, Max here, trying to leave for school. I feel like my legs are glued to my bed. Actually this isn't true, since my legs are in pants, so my _pants_ are glued to my bed, because even though I have managed to stand up in a motivated way I can't step forward. Maybe if I put on different pants I can head out to school.

It's Tuesday. Yesterday I was in such a daze that I managed to trip off in the general direction of the school at some ungodly hour of the day. Today I am not in a daze, today everything just crashed down on me at once and I'd rather just stay here, thanks.

No one knows much about Kai, where he came from, who his family is (or was), even where he lives. People do know a few things though, things which are whispered about with the same care as the ghastly secrets passed around my social circle (seventies or messy break ups). We know about Tala and their unconditional friendship, and how Kai will do just about anything for him. We know that he, Tala, Bryan, Ian and Spencer have a bit of a shady history. And we hear rumours about Kai's unconventional high school romances.

I put it rather kindly there. Kai is bi, everyone knows _that_. Embarrassingly enough that was what made me like him in the first place; somehow I couldn't shake the idea that being one of his short-term flings wouldn't actually be that bad. Well to be fair he's also gorgeous, so it's not all because I'm messed up, but it is part of the reason.

So Kai doesn't have relationships. Ever. He just doesn't. Sometimes he keeps people around for a week or two, if they're lucky. And I'd rather not get into the more scandalous rumours I keep hearing about what happens in that time. In fact I'd rather not think about this at all, because then I'll start thinking about the way my mind just totally dropped out back at the library on Sunday, the way I suddenly stopped thinking and worrying for a while. For not nearly long enough, if I'm honest.

Instead I'm going to think about the lawyer I just walked past on my way out the door, who is here to discuss divorce stuff and financial stuff. Basically the gist of it is that my mom can't afford the mortgage, so we're selling the house and buying a smaller one. My dad, on the other hand, is moving in with some woman and her pre-divorce kids – there's something I'd rather not think about as well.

If you'd asked me a week ago which parent I wanted to stay with, I would have said my dad immediately. He's out of the house more, he's easy going, he's fun sometimes. My mom is uptight and overprotective, and somehow at the same time doesn't care about me in the least. But when she explained with a grim expression what had actually happened this whole time, that he'd been having an affair… I don't think I've ever been so disgusted.

I feel that familiar shaking anger, the one that pushes me forward the rest of the way to school and makes me feel sick. It's just so unfair that I've been dragged in the middle of this shit storm that belongs in a high school relationship, not in a married couple with a sixteen-year-old son. It's something about their immaturity that gets to me the most. The screaming fits, I mean. They have these high expectations for me that I can barely meet with sacrificing sleep, actual fun and mental stability, and then here they are acting like children. I could scream, right now, except that I'm in a hallway at school and people would probably be freaked out.

If I were at home still (_why_ didn't I stay at home) I would collapse into bed and burst into tears. Instead I collapsed onto my chair in law class and stared at the chalkboard.

As if I was going to take in a word about politics today. Dream on, Max.

Kenny usually sits next to me in this class, but today his deserted seat was filled by Tyson for a moment. I managed to crack a smile for him.

"Don't be a downer, Maxie, it's Tuesday! That means it's almost Friday!"

"Yeah, okay," I sighed, raising my eyebrows at him. "Don't tell me it's almost Christmas too."

"Well, it is."

"No it's not. I know how to read a calendar."

"Damn. So I was on YouTube yesterday, right?" Tyson has this way of suddenly changing the subject to something he'd rather talk about that makes him so easy to be around. You never feel uncomfortable with saying something to him, because he's always got something to say back, unlike some people I could mention who shall remain nameless.

Oh Kai, how did you manage to get back into my head?

So much for remaining nameless, I thought, half listening to Tyson's completing story. As he then made his way back to his seat on the other end of the room, Kenny timidly sat down beside me, putting a binder and pencil case on his desk.

XX

Religion class is a bit wild today because he's given us another work period, but most people are finished. Our group is working diligently on our latest project: gummy bear surgery.

I'm quite good at pretending and the prospect of sugar made it easy to be cheery right now. So here I am with a handful of gummy bears, carefully breaking their heads and feet off and sticking them together with different colour combinations. Exciting, I know. It was probably only due to the sugar that I managed to stomach Kai's arm subtly rested on the back of my chair.

You know, maybe I am okay with being with him for a week or two. Maybe that would be worth it. But I'm not ready to deal with that _now_, when I'm so preoccupied with school and family. My common sense is telling me to avoid him like I do the rest of my problems and forget how close I got to… whatever it is I want from him.

But when my mind falls comfortably back into that memory, it doesn't seem to matter, because the way he could overpower me like that feels almost like he's protecting me, he's going to take on all my troubles for me. And this is exactly why I need to get my mind away from that memory.

Think gummy bears, Max. Think gummy bears.

"What're you thinking about?" Ray asked. I looked up in alarm.

"Um, I'm… what? Why?"

"Because you've been silent for like, twenty minutes," Tyson replied, squinting at me in what he probably thought was a thoughtful way.

"Oh. Um, I was thinking about…" Kai groping me behind the library. Wait, NO! "Um, gummy bears."

"Oh, um, okay then." Wait, is Kai mocking me? How dare he? It's his fault after all. Oh wait, he must know that already, since this isn't a fantasy I'm dwelling on, it's a reality, and he was there.

This stunning realization made me speechless for another full minute.

"Max!"

"What?"

"Nothing, you're just creeping me out," Tyson shrugged.

"Thanks, glad to hear it." That was a feeble attempt at a joke, but at least Ray smiled. What would I do without him? Cry, I think.

"So what's the next rank up?" Tyson was asking. Oh, I've been tuning out project talk to think about Kai's wandering hands. Brilliant.

"What did you decide on already?" I asked, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Wow, were you catnapping or something?" Ray asked. "We've been talking about this for half an hour."

"No, I'm just thinking."

"Yeah, gummy bears are pretty intense," Tyson agreed in all seriousness. "So we've decided that the followers are numbers. Then the next is a preacher who's called a monomial."

"Then polynomials are higher up, they're in charge of an entire place of worship."

"And after that we have bedmas-es. They make the rules."

"And we haven't decided what our great leader will be," Ray concluded.

"We were saying either like, Pythagoras, or…"

"But he was a prophet," I added helpfully.

"Right."

Kai finally piped up. "So we have numbers, equations, algebra rules…"

"Logically, the next step up would be… the answer."

"It would?" Tyson asked.

"Yes," Ray and I said together.

"Oh," Tyson shrugged. "So the leader is the answer?"

"The leader is X."

The three of them raised their eyebrows at me. "Couldn't you have said that half an hour ago?" Ray asked, perplexed.

I shrugged. "Um, I guess I could have."

"But you didn't," was Tyson's helpful response.

"Nope."

"Well it's settled then," Kai finished.

I decided not to point out how wrong he was. No, nothing is settled. Well except for the whole leader thing, but how important is that? Not very. I mean I've got this Kai thing which would be huge under any circumstances, I have my parents being themselves, and my marks are pretty much a lost cause this year. But hey, at least we have a name for our leader and I have an Italian Flag gummy bear to chew on. Enjoy the little things, right?

XX

Could my life get any more complicated?

Angst on, Max, angst on. Keep talking to yourself, Max, it's okay, no one can hear your thoughts… I hope.

Anyway, I was sitting at our lunch table, minding my own business, when Emily pulled up a chair beside me. She keeps flicking red hair in and out of her eyes, which is a talent when you have glasses, I have to say. She also has a smile plastered on her face.

"You haven't been around in a while, Maxie."

"I haven't," I agreed.

"What's up?"

"Nothing much, really." Oh, not much at all, my parents only just split up, it's not a big deal.

"How are you feeling? Is it weird having him gone?" She talked in a loud whisper and I forced a smile.

"I'm alright. Just taking some time to get used to it. You know, by myself." I hoped she'd take the hint but no such luck, she moved closer to me if anything.

"If you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here," Emily said with a bright smile. You know, she's being a good friend to me right now, but I know her ulterior motive. Wait, is it still ulterior if I know – well anyway, I know why she's doing this. And if I know Emily, she's just going to come out and say it. "You might benefit from some… female company."

I think Ray is close enough, actually. "You think so?"

"Yeah. And I mean like, more than a friend, you know? Do you like anyone?"

"Um, not really."

That didn't put her off. "Not even any friends who you could see as something more?"

Is she really going to push this on me _now_? "Um, well…"

"Just something to think about. You know I'm always here for you."

Pi almighty, save me. Her head is rested against my arm and now I can't eat my lunch without knocking her off. Good thing I don't have an appetite anyway. I started to pay attention to the others at our table as Emily somehow managed to make herself look like my girlfriend, hanging off of my arm.

And of course when I awkwardly looked around the cafeteria so as not to look at her, there's Kai, staring right back at me, looking a bit sour. More than usual, I mean.

Well, here's something else for me to deal with once my parents are settled.

XX

"Max, can you empty the dishwasher?"

My mom was sitting at the kitchen table, probably admiring the polished wood we couldn't afford anymore. Until that moment I had been stacking my books on the other end of the table, being as slow as possible.

"Yeah, sure." I got started on that, hoping to distract from the painful silence that had occupied the kitchen a moment before.

"So how's school going?"

"Not bad."

"Any marks back?"

Only another fifty. "No."

She was looking at my closed math binder. I silently willed her not to open it as I continued to noisily put dishes away. "What have you been doing?"

"The usual. Homework, tests, projects."

"How's math going?" She was opening the binder. My heart pounded, and without thinking or putting down the coffee mug I was holding I had crossed the kitchen and pulled the binder away with my free hand.

Okay, now to justify that. "Uh…" She raised her eyebrows at me. "It's – it's not important," I stammered.

"If it wasn't you wouldn't be hiding it from me." Her voice had gone calm, eerily calm, and I felt entirely cold. I knew that tone, and I knew that she wasn't in her most rational state these days. But then, neither was I.

"I swear, it's nothing, I…" I trailed off miserably.

"That's what he said, too." She said it in a contemplative voice and I shuddered, stepping back towards the dishwasher. Why are we getting so worked up about a binder?

Because our lives have been royally fucked, that's why.

"Just let me see it."

"No." My voice is shaking, hard. Somehow it felt like the world would end if she saw my most recent test mark. I was clinging to the binder tightly, and she stepped forward again, giving me no choice but to back against the counter.

"Don't keep secrets from me. What is it, have you been passing notes or something?"

"It's nothing. Just a… lower mark, that's all." My fingers hurt from the plastic of the binder and I could feel the ceramic mug slipping in my sweaty hand.

"Give it to me."

I handed it over, shaking, watching as she flipped to the back and skimmed through the test.

"What is this, a forty-three?"

"That's just in application, there are other-"

"Yes, I see the other ones, they're not much better. We need to talk to your teacher about this, obviously he is doing something wrong here."

"No, mom. It's not him, it's me."

"You've never gotten marks like this before."

"It's just a number!"

"Max, this is your _future_. Do you want to end up on the streets?"

"I'm not going to be on the streets because I failed a math test!"

"Yes you are!"

Okay, she has officially lost it. "No, I'm not!"

"I am going to call your teacher right now and-"

"And _what_? I wrote this test, not him! I just can't concentrate this year, I don't have enough time anymore, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to try harder! How do you expect to get into a decent school when you're bringing home this shit?" She tore the test in half and flung it at me.

"How do _you_ expect me to get decent marks when I have to come home to THIS every day?" I pushed the test back at her and tried to move out of her way and for a second, everything went white. All I could feel was my heartbeat, my own breath and a sharp pain in the back of my head. Then I heard a smash, my hand had hit the counter and shards of ceramic broke the skin on my palm.

I blinked and it was over, my back slumped against the counter. I slowly realized that my head had hit the handle of the cupboards above the counter, and the bruising pain in my shoulders gave away exactly how that had happened. And if that isn't proof enough for you, there was my mother, thin and blonde as ever with the angel face and ocean blue eyes, standing in front of me. For her benefit, at least she had the grace to look horrified at slamming her son against a cupboard.

The granite counter had hurt my back as well, I realized as I crumpled on the floor, my hand leaving a stain of blood on the white tile. It's bizarre, really, but all I could think for the moment was that she was literally going to kill me if I ever told her that I was gay.

As motherly care goes, she soon turned on her heel and walked away, looking spent and probably crying. And who can blame her? She's only trying to have the perfect family and the perfect home, and now both of those are being taken away from her. I managed to heave myself up with the counter and limp to my room before collapsing in bed and picking up my cell phone.

I wanted a friend; Ray maybe, but I knew what had to be done. My stomach was churning as I dialled my dad's number.

"Max!" He sounded overjoyed and I finally felt my eyes well up. Sometimes I love my parents. Actually I do all of the time regardless of this shit, and I finally recognized the horrible feeling in my stomach as the worst kind of betrayal. They fought, they screamed, he had affairs, she was violent, they split up and I still felt relieved to have my dad's support just now. What's more, I'm feeling so guilty at what I'm about to do to my mom. Pathetic, really, how this family thing works.

"Dad, I…" I let out a sob, a quiet one, but my dad heard it nonetheless. His voice went from jovial to serious in an instant.

"What's wrong?"

What isn't? I asked myself, wiping blood off of my hand with my sheets.

"Can I stay with you for a while?" I whispered, hoping she couldn't hear me.


	10. Ray Drinks 'Special' Lemonade

**Terribly sorry about the wait again. Things have been crazy, and as usual I wrote it, knew it needed something more, and then gave up for a while.**

**I'm sorry, but I have broken a promise. Trouble is that Max's dad needs a girlfriend, no Beyblade characters are really suitable for this position, so… *sigh* Enter: OC. Not to worry, though, she has an extremely small role. She also has two kids, who don't even get names. So yeah, just politely ignore them, thanks. XD**

**Anyway, here is a Ray chapter. Not extremely interesting but I hope it's alright.**

**Warnings: Sugar crashes, spandex jumpsuits, angry Mariah, lemonade abuse.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! :D**

Religion class.

Everyone is sleeping. Actually that's not true, only Max and Tyson are sleeping. Kai is staring at a wall and I am chewing on sour gummies. And the rest of the class is… well, who cares?

"Ray."

"Yes?"

"Stop chewing."

"But how am I supposed to eat my gummies without chewing?" I asked.

"That's a good question."

Kai is evidently not the best conversationalist in these parts, so I continued chewing on my cherry flavoured candy. The project is due tomorrow and we aren't working. Why? Because Tyson was _tired_, and he didn't _want_ to work, and life isn't _fair_. Kai gave him a good smack on the forehead, but it only made him even more sulky. Somewhere in the middle of all this Max did a faceplant on the desk and Tyson soon followed, leaving me to eat my candy in peace.

Relative peace, that is, since I have recordings of Mariah on repeat in my head. When I subtly complained to Tyson he immediately said, "Then break up with her, stupid."

I am being stupid, aren't I?

But since when is Tyson smarter than me?

And since when is it a good idea to walk away from someone you've spent years with just on an impulse like that?

And why am I taking what he said so seriously?

And why are my hands shaking?

XX

It's ferocious, it's dangerous, it's livid, and it's _pink_.

You guessed right, it's Mariah. And those nails look sharp. This is no laughing matter, folks.

I'm at her house, since when I realized I needed to confront her I decided it would be best not to make her have to walk home after, and not to have Lee in the room trying to strangle me. My hair is a tangled mess, I'll admit, and in annoyance I've put it in a messy sort of bun at the back of my head. I can't look up from the floor just yet.

Remember how I said I was scared to lose Mariah? Yeah, that fear was a lot bigger than I expected. My hands are clammy.

"Ray, I don't understand what you want from me." Her voice is quietly hysterical.

"I just need some… space. Just for a while." My voice was shaking. I felt like my body temperature had dropped about ten degrees.

"I don't understand." Is she going to make me say it again? I finally looked up to meet her eyes, they were wide and a bit wild.

"I need a break from this."

"You're breaking up with me?" she asked in a horrified whisper. I swallowed hard.

"No, no, it's a _break_, I just need some time to…" To what? Not even I know.

"Is there someone else?"

"Of course not."

"So you're expecting me to wait for you until you're ready to see me again."

"No!"

The look she gave me was of frustration. "What do you want from me?"

If I knew that, we wouldn't be having this talk. I sighed and ran fingers through my pulled back hair – for a moment, anyway, before they got stuck in tangles. All I really wanted was some breathing room. The more I talked to my new friends the more stifled I felt with Mariah. I was meant to be a people person and they were holding me back. If it weren't for my stupid fear of the unknown I might have just cut her from my life altogether, but something told me that was a mistake.

"I just want… less of this." That was my pathetic attempt to explain.

"So you're bored of me."

"Mariah, I'm not-" Or am I? She spared me finishing that statement by standing up, eyes filled with tears.

"I understand. Please go home."

The politeness was frightening so I obediently hopped to my feet and left her house at record speed, feeling relieved to be in once piece and not much else.

But no, I lied. After only a moment it became clear that there was no relief here.

I felt downright miserable.

XX

You always have to look on the bright side, I always say. And this time, the bright side is that I am not Max.

He didn't look quite well during religion today, actually he was asleep for most of the period, but he seemed happy to agree to work on the project tonight, tie up loose ends and so on. Tyson was at work, Kai was mysteriously busy, so it was just Max and me.

I ended up at his dad's new place, tucked away in his new (may I say _massive_) bedroom. Actually it's a guestroom; Mr. Max's Dad's um, girlfriend, has two kids and a four bedroom home. The guest room has an en suite bathroom. These people have so much money, it just doesn't seem fair. The bed leaves something to be desired though, since it is a futon, and most of the room is taken up by mismatched random furniture.

Anyway, we settled comfortably on the floor and spread our creepy cult-like stuff around us. I hope no one walks in just now, especially since we are both humming the quadratic formula song.

Soon I had enough of this. "Hey Max, can I ask you a terribly awkward question that is going to make you hate me?" Let's bring up awkward subjects!

"Um…"

"Yes, I can."

"Okay."

"Well, remember how you said you don't get into relationships?"

Max looked horrified. "Yes…"

"Don't look so scared, I was just wondering why Emily was hanging off of you in the caf yesterday."

"You noticed that?" He sounded mortified and I shrugged.

"I only glanced over because you were spacing out in religion."

"Oh. Well nothing's going on with us. Except her wanting to hang off of me."

"Just checking," I shrugged, now brandishing a glue stick.

As Max was busy staring into space and I was gluing something onto something else (I stopped paying attention sometime last week, presentations are such a waste of time) the door creaked open.

I don't know what to refer to this woman as, but Mr. Max's Dad's Girlfriend introduced herself as Jeanine and has brought us snacks and lemonade, trailed by her teeny bopper daughter. Both of them were blonde and talked in simpering voices.

Max looked a little bit ill, but managed to be polite by saying "thank you" in a strained voice. And when I say be polite, I mean the bare minimum. But what do you expect from him?

They hovered for a bit, Teeny Bopper looking awkward and blushing and Jeanine asking repeatedly if we needed anything. We both told her no several times and Max eventually stood up and ushered them to the door.

I grimaced at him when he joined me on the floor again. "I kind of miss my psycho mom right now."

Not knowing what else to do but join him with his grim smiles I handed him a glass of lemonade. "At least she's offering sustenance."

"There's always that. You never know, though, it might be poisoned." Max thought about this and beamed at me. "Actually, I hope it is." He took the glass from me quite happily and both of us started laughing in a 'life sucks, but what can we do about it?' kind of way. And yes, that is possible, trust me.

"Me too. Cheers to that," I said, grinning and raising my glass. We each took a sip before turning back to the work needing to be completed.

"By the way, I think your new sister kinda likes you."

Max looked utterly horrified. "Please, Ray, I'm feeling sick already."

"Well don't vomit on the project, I don't want to do this a second time."

Max nodded seriously before eyeing the plate of cookies we had carefully placed on top of the massive unit circle. "Cookie?"

XX

Um, I think Max has become sugar drunk.

Scratch that, I think Max and I have become sugar drunk. Unless that was not normal lemonade. It tasted fine though, so let's go with the sugar thing, shall we?

Max is on his back, giggling at the ceiling, acting more like the Maxie we used to know and love. Not that I knew him when he used to be like that, or that I loved him, really… Let's just forget that statement. The point is, he's giggling and I am too.

Max managed to gasp, "imagine Kai in a jumpsuit like that," before we both collapsed over the empty cookie plate, rolling around laughing.

"No!" I finally objected, though it was too late. See, we'd been discussing what our religious people might wear (this wasn't part of the project, but we ended up talking about it anyway) and had started with lab coats and goggles. Somehow that led to spandex jumpsuits. Max just about had a fit when I suggested my (very old) math teacher in that getup, but I must admit that Kai would be funnier. "Can you imagine the expression on his face?"

"That's not what I'm imagining." I don't know why I chose to take a sip of lemonade at that moment, but it took some extreme skills not to spit it all over the project as I doubled over.

"Just because I'm kind of maybe single now, doesn't mean you have to give me those images," I said after finally emerging. "I think I have lemonade in my hair."

Why was that so funny? Max snorted and was at the point of wiping tears from his eyes. "Ow, Ray, it hurts to laugh, _stop_."

"Stop what?"

We both started laughing again. Ohhhhh boy.

Max was taking deep breaths and trying to compose himself by crossing his legs and holding his hands out Buddhist meditation style, finger and thumb in a circle and all that. "Okay. Okay, what do we still need to do?"

"Like half the project."

"Lies."

I couldn't help but chuckle one more time. "Um, we need to write the prayer out, but I think that's it for our list."

"What time is it?"

"You're wearing a watch."

"I'm tired." Good enough excuse for me. I grabbed Max's arm and read his watch for him.

"It's 9:30."

"Shit." His eyes had fallen shut and I pushed him before starting on writing out the prayer on chart paper. "Don't push me," he mumbled.

Uh oh, sugar crash coming on. He's like a sleepy puppy, eyes drooping shut as I worked at keeping my writing neat. By the time I was done he was curled up on the floor.

I busied myself cleaning up but soon enough had to wake him up. Big blue eyes focused on me slowly before Max's face finally came back to life.

"Did you write it?" His voice is so mumbly that I barely understood a word of it.

"Yeah."

"We're done?"

"Seems like it."

"Presenting tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Max sighed heavily and I helped him off of the floor. "I'll get going, take some of this crap with me." He nodded sleepily and helped me gather stuff off the carpet before leading me to the door. Funny, really, since he's only known the house for a day longer than I have.

I'll admit that I really didn't want to go home and face Lee, but by the time I had made it to my dark doorstep it didn't seem to matter anymore. I was tired. I was unhappy. And I was not going to be harassed by Lee.

By some miracle I made it up the stairs into my own room, shutting the door as if that would keep anyone out, and under the covers on my bed. How snug. If I hadn't just gotten a text message I would have immediately dropped off.

Dreading what Mariah, Lee, Kevin or Gary might have said to me I sleepily flipped my cell open, but all I had was a text from Tyson.

It said, 'wei wei, bring me a pancake 2 skool 2moro.'

Good gravy. I replied, 'Learn how to spell and we'll talk. Good night.'


	11. Tyson Spars on the Front Lawn

**Oh no! I keep forgetting to thank my reviewers! (Maybe because I take sooo long to update?) So THANK YOU!!! And also to everyone who favs/watches, can't leave you out :) **

**Anyway, here's a Tyson chapter. Sorry that these seem a bit like filler, but I'm sticking to my pattern (Max, Ray, Ty, Kai). I'm planning for twenty, so we're just over halfway there!**

**So, um, Tyson's parents… I decided, for the sake of canon, to make them scarce.**

**Enjoy.**

Again with this girl in the hallway.

Hilary, that is. Maybe it's the attitude that gets me when she walks past me with so much purpose. How important can her next class be, really?

As important as mine, I guess. I had a presentation to do, something which Max kindly reminded me.

"So stop staring and start walking," he snapped.

"Oh shut up, Maxie." I ruffled his hair and threw an arm around his shoulders. "You have obviously never liked someone you couldn't get before."

Max snorted. "You would know, Mr. All-Knowing."

"You're being sarcastic. So who is he, anyone I know?"

"TYSON!" Max's face was beet red but when I cracked up he had to smile. "You are so embarrassing."

Hilary huffed as she passed (how did she get behind us?), and Max smirked at me. I said, "so I was thinking I'd skip fourth today, wanna come with?"

"But – Ty, math!"

"But – but –"

"Shut up!" Max grinned. "I thought you had an emotional interest in my mark."

"Oh come on, Maxie, lighten up. It's just one class."

"Max." He and I looked up at Hilary, standing right in front of us, hands on her hips. We hadn't been walking fast but still almost crashed into her, so I'm pretty sure she has a secret teleportation device. How cool would that be? I think I like her even more now. Anyway, she said, "you'd better not be thinking of skipping."

"I'm not," Max lied. "He's just kidding."

"'Course I am, I would never skip class! Can you imagine?"

Hilary obviously could imagine. She raised her eyebrows at me and turned around, walking away and calling, "talk to you at lunch, Max!"

"I wasn't joking."

"I know. I'll come with you." Max had a devilish grin now.

"Thanks for saying that, though."

"Oh, whatever."

"Manners, Maxie."

"I hate you."

XX

"We're here to talk to you today about our religion…"

"Our culture."

"And the thing which our lives revolve around, day after day."

"My math mark." Max spoke so seriously that no one dared laugh.

"Our faith began when Max was concerned about his test marks."

"We decided," I cut in, "to approach the lord Pi…"

"Via the teachings of his Son, Pythagoras, keeper of trigonometry," Ray finished.

"We worshipped the sine curve and her brother, cosine," Max explained as if it were obvious, "and performed the homework rituals for hours every night."

"Until lord Pi came to us with enlightenment," Kai drawled.

"We had to form the church of Trippelemism."

XX

Would you believe that I've never put so much work into anything before? You probably would and you'd be right. I didn't even need cue cards or a printout in front of me. The four of us (even Kai!) talked on about our religion without a single 'um' involved. If one person seemed to falter another would pick up where they left off.

When the whole ordeal was over, for some reason, I wasn't relieved. For one thing we'd soon be back to textbook questions and tests, for another I'd only just made three new friends and it already seemed as if things were going to go back to normal.

That was why I was surprised when Max settled in his spot beside Ray, and Kai took his usual chair beside Max's desk. I had to sit down before the next group presented, so I shuffled into my own seat in front of Ray, who shrugged at me and subtly passed me a shortbread cookie under his desk. No wonder he does so well in school, he always has food with him.

I grabbed a loose scrap of paper from the desk I was sitting in and took Ray's highlighter to scrawl a quick note: 'skip fourth with Maxie and me? There will be snacks."

I pushed it at Ray, who nodded subtly and handed it to Kai. He read it once then pushed it back to me.

"Yes or no?" I asked when the bell rang.

"I wasn't going anyway," Kai shrugged. The four of us arranged to meet in the North entrance before lolloping off to our lockers.

XX

I love skipping class because for once my house is empty: the entire family is out at their various jobs. It's not that they're noisy. Actually it's that they're too quiet. When it's quiet and no one's home, it's right. When everyone's home, I'm just being ignored.

I'm seven years younger than my brother. When I was growing up, no one really cared much about what I did since everything I accomplished wasn't half as impressive as Hiro getting his driver's license, getting into university, studying in this country and that prestigious school and whatever else he did. That's why I'm drawn to friends who are noisy, who always have something to do to keep my mind off of things.

Who knew that this motley crew could be so noisy?

The TV was on, blasting the Magic School Bus. Max and I sang along in our outdoor voices as Ray shouted at us in his (hilarious) accent, and Kai actually yelled over everyone when he felt so inclined.

"Holy crap, Max, you're a professional." Max was working his way through his secret backpack candy stash, occasionally sharing with us.

"Who needs drugs when you have gummy worms?" Max asked through a mouthful, his voice muffled.

No one had an adequate response except, in my case, to drag him off of the couch to do a tango across the family room.

"That is the worst tango I've ever seen."

"I'd like to see you do better, Kai."

"You would, would you?" Ray raised his eyebrows suggestively and Max fell over laughing.

"How many tangos have you seen, anyway?" I asked, thrusting Max at him. My unfortunate dance partner tripped over a stray coat and landed on top of an unflinching Kai.

"Enough," Kai said, pushing Max aside.

When everyone left so many hours later, after tango demonstrations and meeting my entire family with good enough spirits, Max was giggling and had a sticker on his forehead while Ray's hair was tied into seven ponytails. Kai even showed signs of the bizarre events; he had a glove poking out under the side of his hat. I, however, was left with the challenge of hobbling up to my room with my socks tied together.

We are indeed a weird group of people.

But not weirder than grandpa, who just walked in. "Tyson, you in there?"

"I'm right here." He was standing right in front of me, peering at me from under his huge white eyebrows.

"Too right y'are! C'mere, I have something for ya."

Out of my whole family, two people got the insane gene: Gramps and myself. I stood up and he grabbed my cap, turned and sprinted down the stairs, leaving me to blink like an idiot before running after him. Bowling over my brother I crashed through the front door where he was waiting for me, makeshift stick-sword in hand.

"Draw ye weapon, matey." Old guys do the best pirate voices.

I grabbed a wrapping paper tube from the recycling. "En garde!"

I wish grandpa visited more often, since when he does we can spontaneously start sparring on the front lawn. Also when I stay at his place in the country, I get pancakes for dinner as a reward for helping out with stuff I'm actually good at. I actually think I might be related to him, you know?

He has more skills but I'm younger, so we were matched well enough, especially in the amount of ridiculous wailing and embellishments.

"Quiet out there!" came a shout from inside the house.

"Louder in there!" gramps replied, jabbing me in the side. "GOT YA!"

As gramps started laughing like a maniac I made a show of collapsing onto the lawn, groaning and clutching my 'wound'.

"NOOOOOO!" I screwed up my face and fell flat on my back, staring up at the sky. Grandpa gave me a moment before dragging me off the lawn. I looked up, eyes adjusting to the sun. Striding down the sidewalk was Hilary, nose in the air, hands on her hips. She always sees me when I'm acting like an idiot.

Well what you see is what you get, and if you don't like it, don't take it.

Yeah, you heard me.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Not that she'd ever touch a pipe.


	12. Kai Didnt Expect the Spanish Inquisition

_**I would like to apologize for the deliberate lack of apostrophe in the chapter title **_**– I was one character short, so the apostrophe had to go.**

**Hellooo!**

**So I took forever to update. SORRY!!!**

**This chapter could have been a lot more dramatic, but my friends are participating in the nationwide 'senior year drama' movement, so I have more than enough of it IRL XD**

**THANK YOU!!! For the reviews, favs and alerts. :)**

**XX**

"Sometimes I wonder if anything around here is ever gonna change."

This was Tala's sentiment as I made myself comfortable on the grass beside him. He was staring up at the clouds with Bryan and I joined them. "Isn't it always changing?"

"All the changes are the same as the ones that happened yesterday."

I didn't reply, nor did I have to. I knew he was just thinking aloud; he knew I was listening. Eventually, he decided to elaborate.

"Look at you for example. You're always going after some poor innocent soul. Or you're figuring out how to get rid of them once you've got them."

"Only because I've never found anyone worth keeping around."

"But is there anyone really worth keeping around?" Tala asked, looking at me lazily. "Or is that going to keep happening until you're too old and you have to just settle down with someone tolerable?"

"Someone good enough for Kai?" Bryan asked. "You must be kidding Tal, no one is."

"I thought you were asleep," I threw in. "Sneaky bastard."

"That's me."

Tala wasn't listening (shocker). "What makes us good enough, then?"

I raised my eyebrows. "I don't know. I was expecting to spend my lunchtime in peace, not the Spanish Inquisition."

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition," Bryan supplied without looking over.

"Shut up, you two." Tala's eyes were squeezed shut.

Bryan smiled slightly. "Lighten up, buttercup."

XX

"Good evening, Kai."

I decided not to dignify Tyson by responding. Instead I sat myself on the curb, squeezing between the fat idiot and Ray.

Tyson isn't really fat. But we've started calling him so upon noticing his food intake; in a day he eats about as much as I do in a week. But he _is_ an idiot.

"Where's Max?"

"In the caf with his friends," Ray said.

No one said anything for a frighteningly long time, so I spoke again, just to make sure they were both still alive.

"What's with the meeting?"

Ray laughed. "Kai, I started World War Three. I'm not allowed to be in the same room as Mariah. And it's not her, it's my – her friends." He was smiling, but he didn't look happy. "And Ty's miserable because he embarrassed himself in front of Hilary."

"My life is over," Tyson said. "What about you, Kai, what's your problem?"

"I know you."

Tyson stuck his tongue out, then stared back at the road. The sunny sky wasn't really fitting, these two needed clouds of gloom over their heads.

I probably did too.

"What's with you guys?" Max had arrived, dragged by some sort of weird magnetic force, I bet.

My heart skipped.

But it was from guilt.

"Come and sit," Ray said fondly, patting the comfy concrete beside him. "How are things?"

"Well I thought I felt shitty, but you three look way worse than I feel."

Tyson laughed. "Fun party, huh?"

"Yeah." Max sat beside Ray and put his chin on his knees. "Do you guys know how weird you look together?"

"Yes." We all answered at the same time, and Max laughed.

"Don't worry, you make it way weirder," Tyson said.

"Thanks," Max grinned. "I was hoping you guys could cheer me up or something, but I guess that's a lot to ask when your lives are just _so_ difficult."

"My life is a nightmare," Ray sighed, before flashing a smile.

"I should just die, right now," Tyson moaned. "I can't believe it. It's just so unfair."

"Just KILL me!" Ray shouted. He, Tyson and Max started giggling.

"So, Ray, what happened last night?" Max asked finally.

Ray took a deep breath. "I told Lee what Kevin said, right? Then Lee told Kevin, who got mad at Mariah for telling me, so Mariah was mad at me for telling Lee, so I got mad at Lee for telling Kevin, who told Mariah that I was mad at him-"

When Ray stopped for breath, I had to say, "That is the stupidest thing I've heard in my entire life."

Ray, Max and Tyson burst out laughing.

"And you know Tyson," Max added, causing Ray to collapse onto the street.

By the time Ray had gotten the tears out of his hair, Max was still having fits of giggles, but we were five minutes late for last period. Ray and Tyson went jogging for the portables, while Max turned to walk into the school.

"Max."

He turned around, not looking the least bit surprised. "You want to talk to me."

"When did I tell you that?"

"You didn't, it was obvious." He wasn't laughing anymore.

Something in his face told me that he knew what was coming. So he's not as deluded as most people.

"Okay, Max, I don't know what someone like you wants with someone like me. But there's a reason why we're different. It'll never work."

"Okay."

Something about that bothered me, but I figured it could be worse. "You understand? So many people have tried to fix me, you know. To get me to love them. I don't fall in love with people. You interest me, but it'll never be more than that. I don't want to give you the wrong idea."

Max just looked at me, and for a second I missed the usual scene of Person X crying and yelling at me for 'deceiving' them by not returning their 'love'. This silence was unnerving.

"I get that you're… not like your friends. And you want to differentiate yourself." I half expected him to point out that I'd used a 'good' word, but of course he stayed silent. "And you're pissed at your parents. People do stupid things when they're trying to rebel. But I'll only ever be bad for you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Max." Something about his face worried me. "I'm looking out for you. Normally I don't care enough to set people straight."

He laughed then, but only seemed to be able to say, "Okay".

XX

"I think I made a mistake."

Ray was looking at me with an expression I imagine I have most of the time. That is, he thinks I'm an idiot.

"Kai." He was trying not to laugh. I was trying not to smack him upside the head. "Sorry, but do you know how weird it is that you care this much about how he feels?"

"I don't care that much."

"You texted me to demand that I come and talk to you after school." Ray wasn't hiding the smile now. "If you really do care about him, then you did make a mistake. If you don't, then you didn't."

"Thanks. That really clears things up."

"I try. Look, from what you said it sounds like you left things open. It's probably better to stay away from him anyway, at least for now. He's got enough going on."

I didn't say anything, but Ray was right. I couldn't get the image of Max turning away from me and leaving, not into the school but headed home, out of my head.

Ray voiced my thoughts. "Here I was thinking you were the most conceited bastard on the planet."

"I am."

"Yeah," Ray laughed. "Stop worrying, it doesn't suit you."


	13. Tyson Isn't In This Chapter

_**I TRIED SO HARD to get a good start on chapter 14, but I am creatively drained!!! So here's 13 for you, and I apologize for the inevitable wait which follows.**_

**Thanks for the reviews everyone :)**

**This one addresses a few issues but is mostly… well, contemplation. So I hope it hasn't turned out too boring, I just had to have Max realize some things here. **

**Also: A bit of my Canadian culture has leaked into the story. That is, Timmy's. Since it's just… where we go. For coffee and stuff. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same wavelength here. Tim Hortons. It's a fast-foody-doughnut-placey-thing. Yes, that is the technical term for it. **

**PS – a triple triple is three creams, three sugars. **

**PPS – This author's note has gotten out of hand. Thank you and goodnight.**

**XX**

There were two reasons why I spent Friday night curled up on a futon, cocooned in blankets, crying. One was frustration. Everything Kai said was wrong, and I, being totally useless, could do nothing to correct him. This leads to the second, being that I was going to lose him as a result of my incompetence.

Losing him was an interesting thought. Can you lose something you don't have? Do I have him? Could I get him? Should I? Does he want me to?

I thought about that for hours before realizing that yes, I should try to get him, and it wasn't because I was in love with him or something. It was because I thought I could learn something from him, improve under his watch and learn to be myself – not just the side my parents want to see.

I have watched more than my fair share of romantic comedies, so I know that the only thing that'll save me now is the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me Pi. Also knowing that I'm too pathetic to say these things aloud, I tore a sheet of paper out of my math binder (I could have taken it out but I was in a tearing mood).

I decided that to begin, I should get the most important one out of the way. This was the only reason why he had wanted to have that talk with me.

"_I didn't think you were in love with me or that you ever would be."_

Kai isn't a mushy person. Newsflash, right? I'm sure many have operated under the delusion that if only they can get Kai, they can make him fall in love with them. This isn't so. It would take someone exceptional, someone of his own calibre, and I'm not sure if anyone good enough for him even exists. If they do, well… that's not me.

Saturday morning came too soon. I'd only had a few hours of sleep and had to roll out of bed for a day out with friends. As I stumbled around the house getting ready I was left to contemplate the absence of heartbreak. In fact all I really felt was hollow, as if every ounce of pain I had in me had been drained out. I felt almost invincible when I realized a truth Kai must have discovered as a child: If you don't care, nothing can hurt you.

Forget all the whining my friends do when they have a breakup. None of these people really matter that much. Not every boy who catches your eye is "The One". There is no 'one' person who will complete your life. A relationship is as good as you let it be, and if you spend the whole time thinking about how in love you are and how weak your knees are, they will soon get bored of you.

"_I'm not in love with you, and I doubt I ever will be."_

This is no fairytale. Kai is cold, he doesn't act like a gentleman or even the slightest bit polite. My draw to him comes from his appearance, his dominating personality and that always entertaining insanity. But my draw to him is only a draw, and to put it ineloquently, I want him. I don't need him, I don't love him or cherish him, nor did I expect things to ever be that way for us.

Expectation was another big part of this. I don't think he realized the depth (or lack thereof) of my expectations from him. Somehow it didn't seem like a problem that I would knowingly enter a relationship where I would take the role of his possession, it just seemed an inconvenience that I had failed to mention that part. It wasn't a surprise that Kai hadn't realized this though, since it sounds crazy.

"_I actually expected you to treat me like an object for a week or two and then move on."_

It's amazing what your body can do on auto-pilot while you contemplate things. I looked insufferably perfect as usual, everything neat and clean, as I positioned myself near the door waiting for a knock, continuing to consider my situation.

Kai has a way of doing things which I have observed. On observing this I did, in fact, come to the conclusion that I would be no different from the people he tossed aside. Maybe I would last longer or shorter, but I certainly wouldn't crack him. He may in fact be uncrackable. Maybe he's already cracked. Maybe this is just him.

"_I did not expect to 'change you', 'save you', any of that nonsense. There's nothing wrong with you."_

At the age of seventeen, you don't need to have the commitment skills of a married man (which, by the way, are crap. Ask my mom.) So Kai is going around, finding what he wants in a person and what he doesn't. He's not hurting anyone too much. This is just what he does. He doesn't need to be saved.

Emily was at Michael's side when I opened the door. They both started going on about the house, chatting with my dad and Jeanine, going about being charming as I listened. My new friends were nothing like me. These ones? Exactly like me. Kai looks at them and sees the reality of the person I pretend to be, but that person is not a real person. Not even human. There must be something else going on there underneath the politeness.

"_I _am_ like my friends. I like success if I work for it. I'm not going to change that for you, or anyone."_

Polite, charming, smart people who never do anything wrong? Yeah, they don't exist. That is the kind of person we try to be, that is our idea of perfect. Someone who never slips up, someone who is loved and respected by everyone else.

Look at Emily for example. She's wearing the clothes everyone else wears, not one hair is out of place, she looks like she spent an hour this morning on trying to just look normal. Look at the bus driver. He looks like your typical old, friendly bus driver as we hop on and show him our bus passes before going to meet Hilary and Kenney.

And isn't everyone in this world trying to be perfect? Maybe Tyson's idea of perfect is someone cool, someone who everyone sees as a friend who makes mistakes but just brushes them off. Maybe Ray's idea of perfect is a modest but talented person who is a good friend to anyone who needs him. Maybe Kai's perfect is a cold, unfeeling person who does what he wants, always.

None of us actually are these people, we're just trying to be them. And isn't that what growing up is all about? Is there anything wrong with trying to be perfect?

I'm far from perfect, but that won't stop me from trying to be perfect.

We were all talking. It had been such a long time since I spent any time with these guys. I'd totally forgotten why we're friends.

As if I could go up to Tyson and tell him exactly how I planned to study for the math test.

As if I could go up to Michael and tell him that I'm gay.

Maybe I can have the best of both worlds. And while I'm at it, maybe I deserve that. There's more to me than my obsession with perfection. There's another side trying to get out, and I think it's out now.

"_I am not interested in rebelling from my parents; I am only interested in rebelling from myself."_

This is reality, then, I thought as I followed everyone off the bus at a café we all like. I can't stop being one of them, nor can I stop being someone else. It's time I tried to figure out how to live with it all, take nothing for granted.

Pythagoras, son of Pi, what I wouldn't give for a French Vanilla. Are cafés not the best creation? Try as I might, I will not be able to give up cappuccinos for Kai.

Kai would never set foot in a place like this if I paid him. No matter what I paid him in. But as I said, I am now going to try to live a double life. He's not part of this half.

And is he going to be part of the other half, after accusing me of being like all the others who have gone after him, hoping to change him?

"_I did, and still do, intend in being used by you for as long as you like."_

I'd hid my letter in an envelope in my backpack. When I got back home (home? Not likely. When I got back to my current place of residence,) I took it out, read it over, sealed it. I was seeing him, Ray and Tyson tomorrow. I'd give it to him then, not let him read it while I was still there.

XX

Another sleepless night, another early morning.

I stumbled all the way to Timmy's, where I was meeting the gang (yes, 'the gang') for caffeine goodness. I was way too early, but I could smell the coffee wafting from the building and followed my nose up to the counter.

"Large triple triple, please, and a sprinkle doughnut."

I paid for my high-calorie goods and wasted no time in downing a mouthful of coffee. The warmth spread through my body and I wandered toward the tables, not looking where I was going, concentrating on another gulp.

"Max."

He said it quietly, but I still sloshed scalding coffee onto my hand. Because I was in agony I had no time to think, and put my stuff down at the seat across from Kai.

I didn't look at his face. He had a coffee in front of him. I stared at his hands. His sleeves were too long, and he was clenching his fingers around them. He let go for a moment to pass me a napkin.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Yep."

Trying not to look at Kai I took another sip of coffee, which ended up mostly dribbling down my chin. He leaned over to dab it off with his napkin.

Shit.

My face became like a giant pomegranate, I could feel it. God, I must look stupid. But what's he doing, acting like my mom or something?

Ugh, yes, my mom does still do that if I can't stop her in time.

And now I'm thinking about my mom.

And now I'm choking up.

Perfect! Thank you very much, face, remind me to iron you later.

"Max?"

I nodded.

"Look at me."

I shook my head, and he sighed, grabbing my chin and forcing my face up. Gravity worked against me; my eyes had been welling perfectly fine until that happened, but it forced the tears down my face.

It didn't last long. Even though I could cry professionally – these days I do it way more than any person, let alone guy, should – it doesn't come out as well in public. But before I could regain some shred of composure Kai had moved beside me and hugged me.

I didn't hide my surprise.

"Who the hell _are_ you?"

"No idea," he muttered. His arms were firmly around my waist for five seconds, during which all I could hear was my own heartbeat, before he let go.

"Tell me it's not my fault."

WHAT?

My mind was so numb with shock that I answered normally. "'Course not. It's just… everything."

Kai looked relieved. He is the most confusing person who ever walked the planet.

I asked myself, why does he suddenly care?

Then I remembered that he cared the whole time.

XX

"_Kai,_

"_Firstly, I appreciate you setting everything straight with me, because I'll admit that I did wonder. Secondly, I wanted to say that I understand why you wanted to do this. I'm sure you thought I'd be upset and confused just by the idea of your 'interest' in me. To someone like you I must seem weak-minded. I am._

"_But there are a few things I would like to set straight with you, things which I probably couldn't articulate in person due to said weak-mindedness._

"_I didn't think you were in love with me or that you ever would be. I'm not in love with you, and I doubt I ever will be. I did expect you to treat me like an object for a week or two and then move on. I did not expect to 'change you', 'save you', any of that nonsense. There's nothing wrong with you. I _am_ like my friends. I like success if I work for it. I'm not going to change that for you, or anyone. I am not interested in rebelling from my parents; I am only interested in rebelling from myself. I did, and still do, intend in being used by you for as long as you like. _

"_If you want me, I'm going to let you come and get me."_


	14. Max Passes Scandalous Notes

**THANK YOUUU! You're the most wonderful people in the world. Yes, you. The readers.**

**So here it is, the big one-four. This time, your host is… RAY! As per the usual order of things. This chapter is probably a step down from the last one, since I am suffering from SEVERE WRITER'S BLOCK. I blame my Writer's Craft culminating assignment. :[**

**We haven't changed settings.**

**PS – Iced cap = iced cappuccino. Because we Canadians love ice.**

**PPS – The Raptors are a Torontonian basketball team. We like to use them as an ice breaker, especially since the Leafs suck.**

**PPPS – Sorry that the end is extremely abrupt, but I updated, that's what matters :)**

**XX**

A blueberry muffin and a tea. What could be more wonderful on a Sunday morning?

Well if you ask Kai, just a black coffee will do it, but who asked him, anyway? Tyson's got a breakfast sandwich, a jelly doughnut and an iced cap.

"I see you're watching your calories," Kai said, watching Tyson munching steadily.

"What? This isn't even that much. Hey, Max."

Max threw himself into the chair across from Kai, not looking at anyone. Tyson had told me that when he arrived Max had gone running into the bathroom, which I'm sure is a mild exaggeration. I had gotten here minutes later. It had been fifteen minutes since then, but his puffy eyes answered our questions.

Except Tyson's. "Am I really that ugly?"

Max just smiled, but Kai nodded, earning himself a punch on the shoulder. Those two started arguing, so I touched Max's arm. He looked up at me.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." His smile flickered out quicker than usual.

"I don't believe you."

"Then why ask?"

"To prove that you're a liar."

"Am not."

Tyson heaved a huge, sarcastic sigh. "Will you two _please_ stop bickering? You sound like an old married couple." Kai glared at Tyson, and I kicked him under the table.

"Can you stop beating Tyson up now?" Max asked, sounding bored. He was stirring his coffee listlessly. "I'm trying to remember a double angle formula."

"Max, there's no room in my Sunday morning for trig identities," I groaned. "I haven't studied at all. Why do they put tests on Mondays?"

"Because they want us to fail," Tyson explained.

"Ah."

"Which one?" Kai asked Max directly, and he looked confused.

"Oh, um… Tan."

Kai started theorizing on what the numerator might include, so Tyson and I started complaining loudly.

"Kai, it's too early for this!"

"Don't encourage Max! He was doing so well!"

"Doing well at what, not caring about his grades?" Kai countered.

"But Kai!"

"No!"

"Please!"

"SPARE US!"

Max finally couldn't hold his laughter off any longer. "Calm down, I'll stop."

No one said anything. For a long time.

"So," Tyson said, breaking the silence. "How about those Raptors, eh?"

"It's not basketball season," Max replied.

"Basketball players don't just drop off the earth when it's not their season."

"But they don't do anything worth talking about, either…" Max trailed off, looking over my head at the door. "Ray, don't look around," he whispered.

I nodded and stared over Tyson's shoulder. I knew what Max was talking about; now that he'd gotten my attention I recognized the voices behind me, walking up to the cash.

Lee, Mariah and Gary were talking about the movie we'd planned on seeing this afternoon. Obviously, since Mariah was going to be there, I couldn't be, but no one had bothered talking to me about it. I kept my face set. Everyone at my table seemed to find it appropriate to stare at me.

Finally, I heard the door open again. "Are they gone?" I asked.

Max nodded. "What were they saying?"

"What?"

"They were speaking Chinese," Tyson said, rolling his eyes. "You really don't notice stuff like that?"

"It wasn't my main concern," I replied. "Nice of them to say hi, wasn't it?"

"Did they?" Tyson asked.

"Yes, it's Chinese custom to say hi to someone from the other side of the room without looking at them."

"Seriously?"

"Tyson, are you retarded?" Kai asked, quite seriously.

"Well you never know!" He looked back at me. "They could've just not recognized you."

"Yeah, I bet they saw him and thought he was the other guy we know with five-foot-long hair," Max said.

"Will you guys stop with the sarcasm?" Tyson whined.

"I wasn't being sarcastic," Kai said. He looked at me. "Just forget it, they're acting like children."

I nodded. "I know, I'm not really bothered."

Max raised his eyebrows, and I stared down at the table. "And you call me a liar?" He was smiling, at least. "Don't worry about it. They'll get over it soon."

"Just talk to them about it. There's no reason for them to be mad at you," Tyson said.

"Aside from breaking up with Mariah?"

"Breakups happen," Max shrugged. "It's no reason to stop talking to you. When my friends break up, we just divide time until everyone's cool again."

"Do your friends break up often?" Tyson was laughing, and Max grinned.

"Yeah, it's a tradition. Everyone dates within the group, but they never last long. Bit stupid, really."

"Just a bit," Kai said.

"Well anyway, if you get pushed out by them, you can always call us," Max said. "You're not in a bad place."

We hung out there for a few hours, just relaxing. Things have gotten a bit quieter between the four of us, but the silences are comfortable, and Tyson usually starts with something stupid to break them. The only real tension is between Kai and Max, which is expected, but not as bad as I would've thought.

I just about died from curiosity when Max subtly (but I always pick up subtleties) passed Kai a note before they went their separate ways. I have to call Kai later to interrogate him.

But firstly, there's someone else I have to talk to.

This time it was Lee who got disturbed. He had been napping on the couch when I slipped into the family room. On a whim, I decided that the best way to wake him would be to dump a glass of water and ice down his shirt.

He swore loudly, then tackled me. Laughing I pushed him off easily, leaning back against the couch.

"Are you pissed?" he asked, not totally ignorant.

"No, I just felt like doing that."

Lee growled and tried to attack me again, but I grabbed his arms and held him off. He swore until our parents started yelling for him to shut up, and then sat back down.

"You're so annoying."

I laughed. "Sorry. So am I not allowed to be friends with everyone now or what?" Lee sighed, not looking ready to answer, so I kept talking. "If that's how it has to be, then that's fine, I just wanna know."

"That's fine? Really?"

"I'll live," I amended.

Lee rolled his eyes. "Don't be a drama queen, Rei. You can be friends with everyone, but Mariah needs space. You've gotta take responsibility here."

"I am, chill. I just needed to clear that up."

"Don't talk to her yet. She'll talk to you when she's ready."

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'm leaving now."

"Where the hell do you keep going these days?" Lee shouted as I got up.

"I'm going to my room," I laughed, throwing a pillow at him. "Don't be a drama queen."

XX

"Kai."

I heard a lot of noise. Crumpling, shifting. "Ray."

"What are you doing?"

"Homework."

"No way."

Kai laughed. "I am."

"You just laughed. This is weird. What was the note about?"

"Your face. I have to go."

"My – Kai! I wanna know!"

"Too bad. Bye."

"You bitch!"

He hung up. I put my phone aside, and it started ringing again.

"Kai!"

"No…"

It was Tyson. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, hey. Sorry, Kai just hung up on me. What's up?"

"Math."

He sounded miserable. "Shit, I haven't cracked a book open. Need help?"

"If you could."

"It's no problem. Where do we start?"


	15. Kai Violates Tyson's Innocence

**Hello folks!**

**Thanks for reviewing :) Here's 15, a Tyson chapter. Do you think I jumped the shark with chapter 13 XD?**

**I finished my writer's craft culminating. I only have one exam left. Sooo I should be able to finish this story. 5 chapters to go!**

**Hope you enjoy! :)**

"MAX!"

"TYSON!"

We waded through the crowd until Max had successfully linked with my arm. "Good, I thought I'd never catch you," I gasped.

Max tripped over a freshman's shoes, and I dragged him to his feet, pushing people aside. He shouted to me over the crowd. "I fucking _hate_ this hallway. How'd you like the test?"

"Oh, I loved it. So much fun. Best part of my morning."

Max rolled his eyes. "How do you think you did?"

"The usual, I guess. I got root 2 for the thinking question so I messed up somewhere there…"

"That's what I got too," Max said. "I thought I got that one… Tyson!"

I had stopped dead, and he was being carried away by the current of students. He yanked on my arm and I started walking again. We were travelling about an inch an hour, I don't know what he was so panicked about. "What? You actually got root 2?"

"Yes, because I ended up with a squared on-"

"I don't want your life story, Max."

"It wasn't, I was just-"

"I actually got the same answer as you?"

"Um, I guess so, I-"

"Max! Do you understand what this means?" Max obviously didn't, so I grabbed him by the shoulders.

"It means he's becoming a man." Kai had just broken between us. Max and I immediately linked up with him as we forced onwards.

"I'm more of a man than you'll ever be!"

"Yeah, walking around school holding hands with Max?"

"We weren't holding hands, we were linking – Kai, link with me!" He had shaken my arm off. "KAI! Oh shit-sorry."

"Smooth," Kai commented.

I had somehow managed to knock a stack of books out of some kid's arms. I turned back and pushed through to help pick them up.

I heard Max shouting and laughing. "Tyson, no! It's too dangerous!"

"Whatever, no one will miss him," Kai answered. I joined the kid – probably in grade 10 – on the floor, where he was being trampled on.

"Why are you carrying the entire library with you, anyway?" I asked as I slapped someone's ankle out of the way of a math textbook.

"I was carrying my friend's books for her." He was blushing.

"Well that's just great, you try to do someone a favour and then some total jackass comes along and knocks all the books out of your hands."

"Yep."

I handed him my pile and stood up. "Well, good luck with that."

"Thanks."

The hallway was clearing now and I could see Kai and Max standing outside the classroom with Ray's unmistakeable hair. I turned around and walked into Hilary.

"Sorry."

"No, my bad," I shrugged, trying to get around her.

"Hey, um…"

What now? I turned around and she was about to say something, but the bell rang. She turned and started running toward her class.

Beginning to feel like a ballerina from all the pirouetting, I turned around again. My eyes briefly rested on Max's back, and in that second, Max was in the process of pushing Kai's hand away from his -

"AUGH! KAI! MY VIRGIN EYES!"

Then I immediately turned around. Again. Then I turned back around to give Kai the full effect of me clawing my eyes out.

I heard Ray's voice. "Tyson, what're you doing?"

"Spinning," Max suggested. He obviously had been the victor of the hand battle, but had come out with a beet red face.

I marched up to Kai. "Don't grope people in the middle of the HALLWAY!"

"See, he agrees with me," Max mumbled. Ray was looking at us as if we were a seven-headed sea monster serving breakfast sausages.

"What is this, gang up on Kai day?" Kai asked drily.

"Um."

The four of us looked up to see Sir standing in the doorway.

"Are you four coming in? Ever?"

Max was blushing even more. He mumbled something about his locker and shuffled away.

"No," was Kai's answer. Ooh, how badass. You know, in a not-badass kind of way. He turned and followed Max in what can only be described as a predatory manner. Creepy.

Ray and I walked into the classroom only to be stared at by everyone in the room. I think that's unfair, since we're the normal ones in this situation. Ray's massive hair blocked his entire body as he rushed into his seat and vanished into the furniture. I made a show of swiping Rick's headphones off his head as I sat down.

"Thank you, Tyson, for enforcing the uniform code."

"Any time, Sir."

"Take your hat off."

"Yes, Sir."

"And your sweater."

I should have skipped.

XX

Max is contagious. All I can think about is math.

I think the test was okay.

This isn't normal for me, though. I can't shake the feeling that the test was actually really bad.

The one thing I know is that Rick doesn't care. He and I walked together from religion to the cafeteria, where we joined the loud people at our table. Noise, noise, noise.

Rick's voice bored into my skull. Mariam and Julia were screaming at each other in order to be heard. And don't even get me started on Daichi. And that's just four of them, our table seats 10 comfortably, and we're not comfortable. But they're all just noise to me right now.

For once in my life, I didn't want noise. When I saw Ray from the window wandering around outside, I jumped up.

No one noticed me leaving; I hadn't been the centre of attention for a change. I caught up with Ray and he smiled at me, not saying anything. We sat together on the curb.

"Nowhere to sit?" I asked.

"Nope."

I remember back in elementary school when we used to do all these anti-bullying workshops. They taught us about how God wanted us to find the people with no one to sit with, and sit with them. Even though people hated me at the time, I had a couple of friends, and I never got stuck alone, so I never thought about it.

Then high school came, and the idea of hanging out with losers became a chore. I always thought it would be awkward, boring, imposing, and counterproductive. I never thought it would be my first choice.

But then again, Ray's not a loser. I know him better than that. He's just a regular guy who has friend issues at the moment.

But aren't all the so-called 'losers' like that?

Shit. I think I just had a philosophical thought.

"Ray, what's wrong with me?" I moaned, putting my head on my knees.

"It's this thing called growing up," said Ray the Mind Reader, smiling slightly.

"It sucks."

"I know."

We were quiet for a few minutes, and then Max came bouncing into view, arriving back at the school.

"Where'd you go?" Ray asked, standing up to greet him. Kai rounded the corner, and Max checked back on him.

"Could you be walking any slower?" he shouted.

"Yes," Kai replied.

Max laughed and looked back at Ray. "We were just wandering around. How was religion?"

"It was amazing, too bad you missed it," I said. Max grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Oh, I bet."

"It was!" Ray laughed. "You look cheerful."

"I'm not." Max tried to keep his face straight.

Kai finally caught up. "I'm going to the library. See you later."

"Aand he's gone," Ray said. "So, what happened?"

"Let's go inside, I'm cold. You guys can sit at my table, I need someone to talk to who doesn't wanna recite the math test."

We started walking back inside, Ray saying, "Well the first question was about a bird flying East…"

"It's time for the post-test ritual!" I interrupted him. "We need pie. Now."

"Oh my god, please?"

"Max, you're back to normal," Ray commented.

"It'll pass," he shrugged, holding the door open. "Come onnnn, I want a vitamin water!"

Ray caught my eye, then burst out laughing.


	16. Ray's Hair Is Aghast

**A/N: ANOTHER CHAPTER? NO WAY! And yet, here it is. Thank you for the reviews and for sticking around! We have one more round to go – Max, Ray, Ty, Kai, and then the story's over. Had trouble with Kai POV as usual. Had to end bluntly as a result of having nothing else to say. Sooo… Yeah, that's all. Enjoy!**

**XX**

"You're not going to religion, are you."

"No, I'm not." Max only raised his head a little. He was sitting in front of his open locker, head on his knees.

"Me neither." I sat beside him and he put his head back down.

"Kai, I don't want people to talk about me."

"No one will."

"But Tyson…"

There's this weird person inside my head who sometimes takes over without my permission. By sometimes, I mean when I'm with Max and his voice starts quavering. So, a lot, recently. And this person really enjoys comforting people and making sure they stop worrying.

Anyway, he just took over. "Tyson was fooling around. He was joking, and no one's going to take him seriously."

"But he saw-"

"It doesn't matter. Who'd believe him? Who would he even tell?"

Max looked up at me, and a tear trickled down his cheek. "Why are you being like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like you actually care."

"Because I do."

"You think I'm pathetic."

"You don't know what I think. I don't even know what I think, except that it's totally insane."

Max smiled slightly. "Whatever, I'm sure it isn't."

"I think you're cute."

"Retracting my last statement."

"And I think I kinda like you."

"How romantic." He had to turn away to hide the big smile on his face.

I crawled in front of him so he couldn't look away from me. "So I can see you crying, but I don't get to see you smiling?"

He blushed and looked at his legs. "So persistent."

"So cynical." I took his hands. "Hey. Max. Look at me." He looked up, and I smirked. "No one has to know, but I want you to be mine for a while. Okay?"

Max laughed, obviously fighting to stop smiling. He swore quietly, still laughing. "You're too good at this."

"Give me an answer, blondie."

He rolled his eyes. "Okay. Fine."

God, I love that attitude. "Well, fine then."

XX

Chirp. Chirp. Whistle chirp whistle. Hoot hoot. HONK! Ch-ch-ch-chirp. Whistle whistle. Hoot. Rrr-r-r-r-r-rr.

That was all I could hear for five minutes.

Instead of following my first instinct and screaming at everyone to shut up, I shared my frustration with Max.

"I hate birds."

He was not very supportive of my trials. "You're so positive and cheerful, Kai. I want to be like you." The birds were really quite loud, though, so Max let it go. "Where are we going?"

"Do you ever walk without actually going somewhere?"

"No."

Figures. "Well you have now."

He grabbed my hand. "Okay, fair enough." Still, he continued to look around the street as if expecting some sort of destination with a large flashing neon DESTINATION sign over it. None appeared, but we did find an empty children's park.

Max climbed up the ladder. It was green, but the paint was peeling off. He didn't seem to mind, and crawled into the tube.

The tube, you ask? Well, strange as it may seem to someone who has never witnessed the rubber tube, our local jungle gym has this big tube you can crawl through. More often than that, bigger kids sit in there and make it their fort, and when smaller kids try to go through they yell at them and make them cry. Small groups of pre-teen kids prefer to sit in it sideways after hours, legs up on the sides. Max did this, his knees close to his chest and his head leant back.

I sat down beside him, and he smiled at me. "I haven't been in this thing in a while."

"I guess you used to hang out here when you were younger?"

"Yeah, me and Mike were that cool." He smiled and shook his head. "We came here on the first day of high school."

He looked nostalgic, so I decided to bring his attention to the present. "How are things?"

"Better." He closed his eyes and his head fell against my arm, and for some reason, I liked that. "Remember that math test?"

"The one with Tyson and his manhood?"

Max didn't open his eyes. "Kai, I don't want to talk about Tyson's manhood." Good call. I nodded. "Yes. I asked my teacher how I did before law class this morning."

"Wasn't that only yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Okay, go on."

"So he marked it."

"And?"

Max moved closer. "Eighty-seven."

I meant to do a Kai-classic response by just staying silent, but he opened his eyes and caught me smiling. Instead of making fun of me like he should have, he moved closer, and then closer.

"Max, you're weird."

"Problem?"

"Nope."

"Good."

So, I'll summarize it this way:

We made out in a tube.

XX

I showed up for religion on Tuesday. Why, I'm not entirely sure. It ended up being a good idea, though.

Ray was hanging around my desk, and Tyson was in the middle of the room being an attention whore. The teacher, who had been distributing packages, skipped the three of us and trekked over to Max's desk.

Max took it, read the front page, then looked over at me. I looked at the package of stapled papers, and recognized the top one. It had a sketch of a dinosaur on the front. Ray had done it.

So we had a mark.

Max jumped up and clambered over to Ray and I. Tyson drifted over as well. Max looked at everyone, then dramatically dropped the papers onto the desk.

Everyone stared at it.

Tyson's mouth fell open.

Ray stammered, "Oh… my God."

"Good heavens," whispered Tyson.

"Pi almighty," Max muttered.

They all looked at me. I stayed silent, so they looked back at the paper.

We got an 85.

All at once, the three of them started cheering, then laughing hysterically. I, being normal, sat there and watched them until they had calmed down.

"Come on, Kai, don't be a stick in the mud," Tyson said, pushing me.

"To be honest, Tyson, I'm ecstatic."

"Well… good."

"You should be."

"I can totally tell just by looking at you."

"It's all in the eyebrows, huh Max?"

"Totally. Comments!" Max suddenly started scrutinizing our teacher's disgusting handwriting. "Says here we didn't take it seriously enough."

"Sure we did!"

"Fuck him!" That was Ray. I gave him the benefit of a somewhat surprised look.

"What the hell?"

"Ray!"

"Sorry, my hair is enraged."

This is one of the stupid jokes they came up with while working on a project. Ray's hair is a separate entity. It feels very strongly about some things, such as religion marks, and makes him say things he doesn't mean.

Max looked back at the comments. "Very creative. Well, obviously."

"I am a genius," Tyson said modestly.

That may have been the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

"No, you're not," Ray said.

"It was my idea."

"You weren't even serious about it," Max reminded him.

"Sure I was."

"You weren't."

"Kai, why doesn't anyone take me seriously?"

The bell was about to ring, and the first few students were starting to sidle out the door. I stood up. "I would explain that to you, but I'm not going to."

Then, I left.

Because I am just that badass.


	17. Max is OK With Unconventional

**A/N: Well this took forever!**

**I hope the update is okay ;_; This is Max's last chapter. It's not fantastic. But some stuff got resolved and so on.**

**Thanks for all your reviews :D I have more than a hundred *sniff* Thank you!**

**3**

XX

"Max, I love you."

"Sure, buddy."

"I don't want to leave you!"

"Well why would you?"

"Stay with me forever!"

"That might be difficult."

"I'll never let go, Max! I'll never let go!"

Tyson did let go of my hands eventually, after Ray pointed out that he was causing a scene in the middle of the cafeteria. For Tyson's sake I'm glad Kai was in the library where I left him, surrounded by books, papers, and pencil shavings. Apparently he just decided that he was going to university. That, he explained to me, only involved him actually showing up to school, because he has been a genius all along. Which is why he's in the library doing mounds of homework; he does it because he doesn't have to because he'd get perfect anyway.

Whatever, no one said Kai was logical.

I had to nudge Ray all the way into the servery. He kept stopping, looking at me uncertainly, and I kept rolling my eyes and throwing all my weight into shoving him along. Pushing him by the shoulders, I steered him over to the cookies.

"You are eating with me. I'm not giving you a choice."

Ray relaxed then, and asked me which flavour of vitamin water I'd made him try yesterday.

Salad and a green tea later, I was leading Ray over to my table. My friends had taken a liking to him the second they'd realized that he spoke English; it was nice having someone different around, and Ray didn't seem to mind answering all their heavily-researched questions about China.

The only person not transfixed by Ray was Emily, who wandered over to me. I stared into my salad.

She stared at me.

I stared at my salad.

She stared at my salad.

"Is that an artichoke?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Are you?

What is _up_ with you?

Nothing, what's up with you?

Well, nothing, but that's not what I meant.

What else could you have meant?

Max, you're acting weird.

Whatever, lady, just let me eat my lunch so I can go back to Kai.

I didn't say that part.

XX

I went back home after school.

Mom was all hugs and apologies, and I was too. There's something special about the kind of pride you get from showing your parents something you worked really hard on, and trust me, I worked really hard to get 87% on my math test.

But I'm not going to stop there. I'm going to get that ninety if it kills me.

That's another story, though, and not a very interesting one at that. There are some things you just have to accept about yourself and learn to work with. So I'm a marks-crazed workaholic, that's okay. I can still have fun. In fact trig identities are pretty fun already, Ray and I had a great time figuring out a really complicated one last week.

I'm not all back to normal, though. When mom went to bed and left her picture perfect little boy up late doing his homework, well… what she doesn't know can't hurt her, and I'm surely smart enough to pull off a bid for freedom out the back door.

It was only a five minute walk (granted, I was power walking, taking time is for underachievers) before Kai was actually lifting me off the ground. He's too lazy to bend over to reach me I guess, but I found it pretty comfortable when he put me down to lean against the brick wall of our school.

"You seem cheerful."

"You don't." I grinned at Kai who gave me the benefit of a raised eyebrow. I'm just going to have to accept Kai for who _he_ is, that is, kind of sulky. "Maybe I can cheer you up a bit."

"Maybe." Always a man of few words Kai made sure that I didn't respond by engaging my mouth in a slow paced kiss that made me sort of doubt his whole 'I don't like you that much' speech, but I can't tell him that. If I did he'd try to prove it, and I don't need that just now.

"Max." His voice was muffled.

"Hmm?"

"Can you do something for me?"

"How hard is it gonna be?" Romance at its finest.

"As hard as going out for lunch with me tomorrow."

I raised my eyebrows. "And this is a favour because…"

"I'm going with my friends, and they want me to bring you."

I stared up at him in horror. "But Kai!"

"What?"

"They don't like me!"

I actually made him laugh and couldn't help but smile when he did so. "They're not like yours, they don't discriminate."

"Yeah?" I sighed, knowing I couldn't say no to him. It was such an innocent thing to ask. I think. "Where are you going for lunch?"

"The pizza place down the street."

"What are the prices like?"

"I'm paying."

"You don't have to do that, I have plenty…"

"Max, I don't have much, but I have money."

Once again I forgot how little I knew about him, and I bit my lip. "Okay."

XX

"He must be serious about you, introducing you to the family."

How does one respond to that? I didn't know, so I didn't. I smiled weakly.

"I'm Spencer." I nodded. "This is Bryan." I nodded again. "And Tala." I nodded again. "Kai, can he talk?"

Kai smirked. "Yep."

This was good enough for Spencer. He and Bryan started talking. I was too nervous to follow their conversation, so just tripped along beside Kai, who seemed to have realized that I was paying more attention to my body than to where it was going, because he kept steering me around dogs and lamp posts. Tala, as usual, wasn't speaking. I hadn't heard him talk before. Today, when he'd greeted Kai, it was so quiet that I couldn't hear it.

So at least I wasn't the only nervous one.

I felt like an idiot, not talking, but for once in my life I had run out of things to say. My usual polite conversation starters wouldn't do. So I stayed silent. I tried to catch Kai's eye for some support, but he was busy talking to Bryan and Spencer now. Instead, I saw Tala looking at me. His eyes were a lighter blue than mine; I'd never noticed before.

Not that I'd ever looked at him before.

Something weird happened there. Not 'love at first sight' weird, but I'm thinking along similar lines. In that one glance, their relationship became obvious to me like a brick wall I could have walked into. Kai loved him. More than he'd ever love me.

It only took a second for me to forget that notion. Why did that matter? I barely knew Kai. He and Tala had been friends their entire lives, or at least that's what I'd heard. So it was natural for them to be closer. And it was not like Kai cared about me very much, anyway. I tried to convince myself that it was okay for me to want Kai to care about me more than anyone else. But it isn't. I figured I'd work on that.

Oh, but I was jealous, I couldn't help it. Kai had _real_ friends. That's why I was here. Could I bring Kai to my friends? No. That just couldn't happen.

We were inside the restaurant. I was sitting down. Kai, it seems, is very good at piloting me as I get lost in my head. Kai asked me what I wanted. I said I didn't know, which is an understatement, since I didn't even know where I was. He suggested something, I said that sounded good, and he left.

I tried to compose myself. Bryan and Spencer had gone with Kai. Tala was sitting across from me.

For a second I felt like Tala was about to give me some sort of 'if you ever hurt Kai, I will…' speech. Then I realized how ridiculous that was, and smiled. He noticed, and his face went from vulnerable to vulnerable and friendly.

"You're a lot like Kai. Just smiling for no reason." From the way he said it, I could tell this was a compliment. "After a while you'll be able to tell what he's thinking just from his face."

"Really?" I should win an award for my conversational skills.

"He doesn't say much, but he thinks a lot."

"I thought so."

"You say a lot, but you're thinking something totally different. Am I right?"

"Yep." Good analysis. What else is there to say? I laughed nervously.

"You're different, you know. For him."

"That's what I keep hearing." Okay, so Tala's a little weird, but I think I could get used to this. At least I know he's honest.

"Yeah." He sounded thoughtful, and pushed some hair off of his face. "Yeah."

Well, all right then. "Yeah."


	18. Ray Kinda Likes Change

**Hey guys. I wrote this all in one go, it took me about an hour. It's just one of those writing days, I guess. Hope you like it!**

**Thanks for your reviews. Two chapters to go.**

XX

My hair was in a long ponytail when I left the house before school. I held it around the middle, soft from just being brushed, trying to keep it from tangling. My heart was pounding. I rounded a corner, tripped over a higher sidewalk slab but it didn't slow me down.

I walked in the door. My hands were clammy. I dropped my ponytail behind me; felt it tug on my scalp. A bell rang, and I spoke to a receptionist.

This was… a huge deal.

I felt like my mind wasn't big enough to fathom where I was, what was happening. There's a word for that, we learned it in Religion. Eschatological, or something. Or was that something to do with time? I was sitting down, my eyes were shut. I heard laughter, not unkind though, just in the absurdity of this situation.

I let my eyes open, barely. I was peering through my eyelashes. I saw the glint of metal, and squeezed them shut again.

"Would you like to make this a donation?" Only a formality, of course I was going to say yes. I nodded.

I couldn't have spoken if I'd wanted to.

I forced myself to imagine a loud buzzing in my ears, and gripped the knees of my school pants. I felt a lot of tugging, some sharp pulling. I expected to hear a crash, an explosion maybe, but I braced myself for nothing, it hadn't happened yet. I raised my head to tell her to get it over with.

My head felt a hundred pounds lighter.

It was gone, most of it anyway. My hair fell longer around my face, to my chin, then got shorter around the back. I looked up at the hair dresser, who was beaming at me, allowing another employee to whisk away that severed part of me.

I choked. I got all these weird flashbacks; my mom combing my hair back home, my dad pretending to lift me up by it. My foster mom, here, squirting me with detangler and gushing about the silky quality, if only it didn't knot so much. Kids at school pulling my hair. Lee pulling it. Sitting beside the bath tub every night, rinsing shampoo out. Mariah sitting behind me, brushing it out. Braiding it. Pulling me by it, both of us laughing as we toppled over.

I tripped over the curb when I left the hairdressers. It wasn't _really_ short, by normal standards. She'd cut it into a proper style.

I felt so lightheaded that I had to sit on the curb. I ran my hand through it over and over, getting a shock each time when my fingers reached the ends so soon.

Also, I must have looked like an idiot, but I couldn't stop smiling.

XX

People looked through me all morning.

I used to think they looked through me, but now I knew what it actually meant. People saw me, before, and chose to ignore me. The kid with the hair. Now they didn't see me; I blended in. Part of the furniture. Like I belonged there; like I was part of this school and this culture. A few girls actually looked twice at me. When I saw people I knew, they didn't notice me, just walked past the normal high school student.

This is all I ever wanted. Forget being different, I thought, trying to hide the smile. I could walk these halls forever, just taking in everything around me. No one bumped into me. Someone said excuse me. A few people smiled.

It was unreal.

Things were changing, I guess, because Max, Tyson and Kai were standing together by my locker. As if they suspected it or something. They didn't recognize me at first as far as I could tell, so I made my way up to Tyson's back and took his cap off.

When he turned around, inflated in anger, I set it on my head and beamed at him.

All three of their jaws dropped at the same time. I burst out laughing.

"That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever seen," I gasped, doubled over. Tyson's cap fell on the ground, and he didn't even notice.

"Ray!" Max finally managed. "You look… you look… I mean like…" He trailed off and looked at Kai.

"Spit it out," Kai suggested.

Max didn't get the chance, because Tyson got his voice back and started shouting incomprehensibly. He grabbed the books out of my arms and handed them to a bemused Max, shouting the whole time. Max raised his eyebrows.

"Thanks?"

"Any time, kid," Tyson said, lowering his voice to an almost-normal volume. "Ray. Shit. Ray. Ray. This is you, right? You're Ray? Are you even Ray?"

"Yeah, I'm Ray. Nice to meet you." I held out my hand. He shook it.

Kai was rolling his eyes at our antics. "Felt like being normal, did we?"

"Yes, we did." Kai hates everything normal, so I expected his disapproval. "And I know you're not into that, but it's my body, my choice."

Kai shrugged. "Welcome to the country, how was your boat ride?"

"That means he gets it," Max translated.

"Ah."

"Here." He gave my books back, and smiled shyly, which is weird for Max. "It's a great cut, really suits you."

"What he's trying to say is that you're the hottest thing he's ever seen," Tyson added helpfully. Kai shot him a glare, and I gave Kai a toothy grin.

"What's Mariah gonna think?" Max wanted the topic away from himself.

"I don't know, but I'm talking to her. Today."

Tyson shuddered. "Good luck, buddy. At least she doesn't have anything left to pull out."

"Funny, Ty."

"I try."

XX

Mariah's face was familiar in a way, but I could barely tell. Mostly, looking at her made something in the pit of my stomach drop.

I cornered her in a stair well during lunch, and asked her friends – my friends, maybe – to let us talk for a minute. They didn't seem keen, but left. Surely they'll hear the whole story soon, but I didn't need any more pressure.

Mariah wouldn't look at me. "Your hair."

"Yeah."

"You've really changed." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm happy for you."

"I think you have too." She usually adorned her hair with bows, baubles, scrunchies, kid stuff. Now it fell straight around her face, some of it clipped back in something plain and normal. "It happens, I guess."

"Growing up," she said, daring a look up at me. "I'm sorry for how I acted. I was being childish."

"I'm sorry too. I could have been nicer about it, I was just confused at the time, and… scared."

"I know. Trust me, Ray, I know you."

"I know you do." I took a deep breath. Now, what I came here for. "I'm going to give you all the space you need right now. Okay? I'm going to clear off for a while. It's not easy for me. I relied on you, I have no idea who I am without you."

"I understand. I feel the same way."

"Okay. Maybe we can be good friends again, soon."

"Soon," she agreed. She gave me a slight smile. "Good luck, Ray."

"You too."

She turned and hurried up the stairs, her kilt flouncing. She was wearing black ballet flats.

Okay, I don't usually notice girls' shoes. But it only hit me when I saw them that she didn't have a spot of pink on her today.


	19. Tyson's Totally Into Books

**A/N: And so ends the nineteenth chapter of Like, Oh My God! We have one left. Dearest Kai stars in it. I predict that it will be difficult to write.**

**But I start university next week, so I think it'll be too crazy afterward, so I'm going to have to get on it soon.**

_**Thank yous go out to all the reviewers! Thanks for sticking around!**_

Something totally weird that I never could have predicted happened today: _integration_.

_My_ lunch table was suddenly not all my crowd anymore. An unrecognisable Mariah had apparently been inspired by Ray's sudden turn to Maxishness and had decided to buy food at the cafeteria today. She and her friends set up camp at the end of my table. Usually, they huddled in some distant corner of the cafeteria, eating lunches packed from home and sharing manga.

Even weirder stuff happened. Like, no one kicked them out. A lot of my friends had decided to talk to them. It was a joke at first, I think, but Ray's old clique proved quite as fluent in English as he is, so they kept up a conversation. Then Mariah started attracting guys from over at Max's table.

As Lee started showing Daichi how to read manga backwards (or forwards, I guess), I went to visit Max and Ray. I sat down in the conveniently empty seat between them.

Max, trained by his friends to keep up with the gossip, nodded at me knowingly. "Weird day today, huh?"

"Ever had your life flash before your eyes?" I asked with a dramatic sigh.

"Yeah, just happened to me this morning," Ray said.

Suddenly, a chill fell over the entire room at the return of Kai's royal presence. Okay, I may have made that up, but he did clear his throat. "You stole my seat."

"Prepare to die," Ray said in a perfect imitation of Kai's drone.

Obviously, I wasn't budging. Max sighed and stood up. "Lunch is over, anyway. Let's go."

Kai gave me a final, ice-cold stare before following Max out of the caf. Ray and I got up to throw out the remainders of our lunches.

"Ty, are these your books?" Max's friends had bid their goodbyes five minutes before, going off to the library to study for something. And no, they were not my books. There were three, two worn-in novels and one hardcover that didn't look cracked yet.

"Must be one of Max's friends," I said, picking them up. I flipped them all open but didn't see a name; just library codes. "I'll ask Max later I guess."

"Yeah, just take them with you," Ray shrugged, tossing my garbage for me. We set off for the portables together, but Ray left me at portable 3. I walked toward 11, humming a song I didn't know the words to and watching seagulls pacing the football field.

I thought I was imagining it when I first heard my name. The second time, the sound piercing the still air must have been real, and I instinctively cringed. Something about the urgency of her voice made me _know_ I'd done something wrong.

"Tyson!"

She pronounced it differently; stress on the second syllable. Like she was ordering me around or something. I normally don't take orders, but this time I obediently turned around and raised my book filled hands.

"Yeah?"

Hilary puffed down the sidewalk until she was staring at my nose. She stopped, one hip to the side, hands folded over her vest. "Why do you have my books?"

"Oh!" I'd totally forgotten they were there. "Um, I meant to give them to Max, I didn't know who left them at the table. I didn't wanna just leave them there."

"The lost and found didn't occur to you?" Hilary sighed heavily.

"What, I'm supposed to dump a brand new hardcover in with people's used gym clothes? No way. Truth is I was gonna sneak off somewhere and crack the spine of this book. Anyway I like carrying books around, I think it makes me look smart."

Hilary laughed. "More like, you look like you're carrying someone's books for them."

"More like, I actually know how to read, and I like books. Is that a problem?"

"Really?" Hilary raised an eyebrow sceptically. "What do you read?"

"Sci fi, mostly. Fantasy sometimes. Stuff my grandpa leaves around."

"The sword-fighting one?"

"That's him."

"Does he have good taste?"

"Same taste as me," I shrugged. "Anyway, I like any book that's really thick. I like the way the pages sit – this probably sounds crazy."

"It does," Hilary agreed. "I know what you mean though, a thousand-page paperback that's been read a few times…" Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed. "You still have my books."

"I'm still gonna crack it." I handed her the old two and waved the third tauntingly.

Hilary rolled her eyes. "Crack it, then, and give it back!"

"Come on, didn't you want to do it? Shoulda done it when you bought the book!"

"I don't _care_ about the stupid spine!"

"Admit it! Admit it and I'll give it back!"

"No! I don't care!"

"You wanted to do it! You wanted to crack it!"

"No! I like old books better!"

"Cracking it makes it older!"

Hilary rolled her eyes. "Just give me the book!"

"Admit you want to crack it!"

"ALL RIGHT! I wanted to crack it. Now I just want it back. Please? I'm late for class."

I sighed. "Fine, here." I handed her the book and smirked. "Now I've got nothing to keep you around, thanks a lot."

Hilary looked at me doubtfully. "Whatever."

"Whatever," I mimicked. "Gonna go now or what?"

"Oh, right." She turned around, flustered, but didn't move. Then I heard it – the weary crack from the book being opened for the first time.

"HEY!"

Hilary burst out laughing and started running toward the school. I followed, easily catching up to her until she got the door open and shut it in my face. By the time I got in she was halfway up the stairs. I sighed heavily, turning to leave. Then I heard a loud thump, and turned back around.

One of the books had fallen from the second floor landing, between the stair cases. I picked it up and dusted the cover; it was one of the older ones.

Was she waiting at the landing? I hadn't heard any more footsteps.

"Ha!" I shouted. It echoed in the empty well. I turned and walked toward the doors. When I reached it I heard a slight shuffle upstairs. "Hey, if you want it back, you're gonna have to find me later. Ask Max for my number, okay?"

I heard a groan from upstairs. "You really are a bastard," she said. I heard her footsteps retreating, and I heard her start laughing.

"You don't mean that."

"Maybe I don't. You'll find out tonight if I text you." I heard her open the door upstairs, and grinned.


	20. Kai Loves a Happy Ending

**It's the last chapter. Sorry it took so long!**

**I love my reviewers.**

**Merry Christmas.**

I'm a confrontational guy. When there's something bothering me about someone I walk right up to them and tell them. Or force them to join me in a sketchy alley and tell them. So I did the latter with Max, when my friends were gone and he was walking quietly beside me, minding his own business.

"Tala."

Max didn't even look confused, obviously he is getting used to me. "No, Kai, I'm Max."

"I know you are."

"Right, then what about Tala?"

"You know what about him. It bothers you. And it bothers me that it bothers you."

"It doesn't bother me." Lie.

"I'm not going to make excuses about this. Tala is the most important person in my life. He's not a romantic interest, never has been, but he's important."

"Yes, I know that." Lie.

"More important than you."

"I know that." He was honest once. "But it doesn't bother me." Not that time.

"Stop bullshitting."

"I'm not." He was. I tried to hold eye contact with him – best way to make someone be honest – but he stepped in and hugged me. You'd think he had a bachelor's degree in hugging by the way, I could definitely get used to pretending not to like this. I granted him a one-armed response, still annoyed that he had managed to evade my lie-detector tactics.

"Okay, I am." Um, never mind. "But I'm trying, okay? I'm going to make myself be okay with it, because if one of us has to go between me and Tala, it's me, and… I don't want to."

"I hope you mean that. I've put up with enough people who were jealous of Tala."

"I do." He nodded against me for extra effect. "But how could I not be jealous? I mean, how could anyone not be? He's your top priority, always."

"You can't seriously tell me you don't have any friends you wouldn't give up for me."

"Kai, I don't even know if I _have_ friends."

I sighed. "You do. Anyway, you don't want us to have what me and Tala have, you'd want more."

"That would make me greedy."

"I bet you are."

"Why do I feel like you're holding back from turning that into an innuendo?"

"Because I am."

"So I'm getting way better at reading your mind," Max said smugly.

"Okay, then what am I thinking right now?"

Max put on a thoughtful expression. "Um, okay, you're thinking, 'When is that thing going to shut up so I can go back to the wall I was leaning against earlier?'"

"Exactly."

XX

When I have a movie night with my friends, we have a good long argument about which one to watch: one person wants an old war film, one person wants a slasher, a mob movie, a sci-fi occasionally. And even though Tala wants Fight Club and Bryan wants Schindler's List, we know that no matter who wins, the movie's at least going to be good.

Not surprisingly, this doesn't happen with Tyson, Ray, and Max.

Tyson wanted to watch Austin Powers in Goldmember, and kept saying "yeah baby" and "Fook Yu, Fook Mi!" Ray wanted to watch Little Miss Sunshine. I suggested Pulp Fiction. And Max was torn between Bruce Almighty and Superbad ("I'm leaving you," I said).

So we decided on the Swan Princess.

You can see the logic behind that, right? No? Me neither. But that was the one movie at the rental place we all agreed was a classic. And I have to admit that Max and Tyson's rendition of 'This is My Idea' on the way to Tyson's place actually made me laugh.

We were halfway through the movie, me sitting against the wall, Ray and Max on the couch, and Tyson sprawled in front of the TV, when Tyson had a sudden craving for popcorn. He paused the movie and skidded out of the room, leaving us silent in his absence.

"Guys, do me a favour," Ray said.

"No," Max said.

"No it's easy. Just picture yourself two months ago."

Easy indeed. "I was probably in my room, reading."

"In my room, on Facebook," Max laughed.

"I wanna play!" Tyson shouted, sliding into the room on his socks. "What are we doing?"

"You, two months ago," Ray debriefed him.

"In my room, playing Call of Duty," Tyson said.

"You guys are a bunch of losers," Ray smirked.

"Why, where were you?"

"Um, probably in my room as well, but anyway." Ray grinned as we all glared at him. "Anyway, now imagine if you knew that in two months you'd be here, with us. Watching the Swan Princess."

Max snorted. Tyson's cap fell off. I said "No."

Having shared that thought, Ray settled back into the couch. "Okay, just pointing it out. Weird, eh?"

"Very. Ty, go get the popcorn," Max demanded.

Tyson planted himself stubbornly on the floor. "If any of you said we were friends, I would have said you were on crack."

"I would have asked why you were talking to me," Max said, grinning. "You bunch of freaks. I am obviously so above all of you."

"No way," Ray said. "Have you _seen_ my report card? I'm obviously a superhuman."

"Guys, none of you are popular," Tyson reminded us. "Better than me? Bitch please."

"I can't believe you just said that," Max said. "No wonder we weren't friends."

"None of you are cooler than me, so don't bother," I informed them. As if I had to.

"Whatever, no matter how you put it, we just shouldn't be friends," Max said. "Stick to the status quo and all."

"Did you just make a High School Musical reference?"

"Max, you're so disappointing."

"I don't think I can be in the same room as you."

"We should all just stop hanging out."

"This obviously isn't working."

"My mom thinks you're all bad influences on my math mark."

"I cry every night over how Kai makes fun of me."

"This friendship is toxic."

"You can't even call it a friendship."

"Why am I even here?"

"Why are you guys in my house?"

"Why am I in your house?" I stood up, tightened my scarf, and walked to the door. Max and Ray followed me, Tyson formally ushering us out. We made it to the front door.

Then they all fell over laughing, and I smirked.

"Aw, I love you guys," Tyson said. Max and Ray looked ready to return the sentiment, but I punched Tyson in the arm before they had a chance.

"HEY! What the hell Kai!"

"Pi almighty, Kai, don't be an ass."

"What? He got off topic."

"Kai, we're not doing the project anymore."

"Then why am I even here?"

No one had an explanation for me. They all just shrugged and went back to the family room, starting to laugh again about our earlier antics. And for some reason I followed them.

XX

"Guys, I burnt the popcorn," Tyson shouted from the kitchen.

_fin_


End file.
